The expression “The American Dream” has a very special meaning for me.
I was born in Iran and educated in Switzerland and France. After both of my parents passed away, before I was 18, I completed my education at the University of Bordeaux in France, majoring in economics. Despite having no immediate family members at that point, I was very close to my large extended family living in the United States. I spent several summers visiting a cousin who was studying for his Ph.D. in Cincinnati, and decided to move to Cincinnati in 1987 when I was 22 years old.