vita
Hourvash Pourkian was born in Tehran and came to Hamburg with her parents and siblings in 1975.
In 1986 she completed her studies in business administration in Hamburg. During longer stays in Boston and London, she took management courses and gained practical experience.
Back in Germany, Hourvash Pourkian worked as a junior chief assistant in a medium-sized textile company.
In 1989, as part of a start-up initiative, she founded her own company Shamo Textil for the production and sale of jeans and casual wear with her own brand label Shamo. In 2001 the second label, Piano Due - made-to-measure costumes for business women - was added.
In 1998 she published the book with her father Human Pourkian
From 1998 until today, Hourvash Pourkian has lectured at various organizations and events on the subject of women in business and society.
In 2001 she was part of the competence team of the later Hamburg mayor Ole von Beust as a consultant for equality.
Hourvash Pourkian then began to deal with integration issues and in 2002 became a member of the Integration Advisory Board of the Senate of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg. From 2002 to 2004 she studied political science at the University of Hamburg and thus achieved the intermediate diploma. The work in the integration advisory board was the reason for the NPO called Bridge of Culture, which initially represented an international entrepreneurial initiative to strengthen Hamburg's "inner internationality".
From 2004 to 2013 the entrepreneur was responsible for the television broadcast Bridge of Culture TV the show was produced on the city channel Tide TV.
The basic idea of the program was to build bridges between the 180 ethnicities in Hamburg in order to emphasize the cultural similarities and to arouse curiosity about the diversity of cultures in the city. By 2013, over 250 episodes had been broadcasted as part of the program.
In 2005 she and the team from Bridge of Culture Hamburg launched the children and family project " Switch your travel around the world",
which 2012 was awarded the startsocial federal prize by Chancellor Angela Merkel in person. In the next few years a few more projects were added: SwitchBigs, SwitchKidsArt and SwitchMind, among others. These have also received multiple awards.
In order to dedicate herself more to the work of the association, Hourvash Pourkian stopped the company Shamo Textil in 2007 and sold her brands to her suppliers.
Since 2008 she has also been the managing director and partner of International Human Media GmbH, which produces image and documentary films.
Hourvash Pourkian has been a member of the Rotary Club Hamburg Steintor since 2009.
Between the years 2009 and 2012 she had been part of the jury for "Best of Journalistenpreis" of Robert Bosch Foundation.
Hourvash Pourkian's passionate topic is, in addition to promoting integration, strengthening women's rights. For the 100th International Women's Day, she founded the IWP International Women in Power initiative in March 2011 .
From 2011 until 2016 she was also one of the jurors of the Joachim Herz Foundation which awards students with a scholarship called "grips gewinnt".