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When her sister entered her into the U.S. green card lottery and she won at eighteen, Jewel Farshad stepped into Los Angeles carrying equal parts fear and resolve, determined to honor a promise to her father: pursue art and never “flop.”
Jewel shares the stakes of speaking out: family members jailed, the risks for Iranians using VPNs, and the grief of living in exile after losing her father during COVID. Yet she refuses bitterness. Her message is simple and specific: stand with the people of Iran, not the regime. We explore how she balances acting, modeling, and content creation as one mission, why storytelling, not lectures changes minds, and the kinds of films she longs to make, weaving Women, Life, Freedom into character-driven plots that entertain first and enlighten second. Along the way, she offers a hopeful lens on reform in the region and teases a new HBO Max project on the horizon.
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Chapters
1. Meet Jewel Frasard (00:00:00)
2. Correcting “Iran” and Persian identity (00:01:04)
3. Childhood joy vs. public restrictions (00:02:35)
4. Hijab, secrecy, and safety at seven (00:03:50)
5. Family’s exits, visas, and return (00:04:45)
6. Winning the U.S. green card lottery (00:05:35)
7. First days in America and fears (00:06:30)
8. Community roots in Southern California (00:08:10)
9. Choosing art over expectations (00:09:20)
10. Pageantry as identity breakthrough (00:11:00)
11. Embracing culture without the regime (00:13:35)
12. Rewriting Iranian stereotypes in media (00:15:10)
13. Representation as purpose, not burden (00:17:00)
14. Speaking to Iranians and Americans (00:18:40)
15. A plea: stand with the people of Iran (00:20:25)
16. Career pivots: acting, modeling, content (00:21:35)
17. Roles, language, and on-set shifts (00:23:05)
18. Looks, blending in, and diversity (00:24:30)
19. Why she loves acting, singing, modeling (00:26:00)
20. Drive, discipline, and not “flopping” (00:27:10)
21. LA realities and U.S. surprises (00:28:40)
22. Organizing a multi-hyphenate career (00:30:00)
23. Stories she longs to tell (00:31:20)
24. Hopes for Iran’s future and reforms (00:32:20)
25. Teasing an HBO Max project (00:33:30)
26. Closing reflections: seeing “little me” (00:34:10)
63 episodes
