Has being a woman been an advantage or a disadvantage for you? It's been nothing but an advantage. It's allowed me to get my foot into places where men have not been able to.
Your father is Persian, your mother is British, and you grew up in Iran and the UK. How did that cross-cultural experience help you in your career?
It simply made me aware, from the moment I was born, of different cultures. I've lived in a completely multicultural, multiethnic, multireligious environment, in some of the most difficult places in the world. I've seen firsthand that you can bridge differences, you can have tolerance between groups. The trick is to minimize the extremes and to stick to the sensible center