Shahrzad Rafati

Shahrzad Rafati is the founder and CEO of RHEI Holdings (formerly BroadbandTV), a leading global digital entertainment company. Recognized by Fast Company as one of the 100 Most Creative People in Business and widely known as a visionary in the digital media space, Rafati is credited with pioneering the model that made peace between major media companies and their fans, uploading premium content online. A powerhouse in the creator economy, RHEI is the largest multi-vertical video platform worldwide with over 600 million unique viewers every month in over 150 countries, generating 30 billion monthly views.

Rafati is also co-founder and advisory board member, of the Chopra Yoga Centers. Co-founded by Dr. Deepak Chopra the centers are rooted in the spiritual leader's philosophy of the Seven Spiritual Laws of Success.

A progressive entrepreneur and active investor, Rafati has driven RHEI to advance the media-tech space, while also building the company as a quadruple bottom line business, measuring success beyond financial performance to include people, social, and environmental KPIs. RHEI has achieved a 0% pay gap, 50% BIPOC and female representation at the board level, ~40% of its employees identify as female, and ~45% of its managers are female identifying.

Amongst her many honors, Rafati has been named: one of the Top 5 Women Entrepreneurs in Media and Entertainment by the FWE Forum for Women Entrepreneurs, the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in the Pacific technology category; Person of the Year by the British Columbia Technology Association; one of Canada’s Top 40 under 40; one of The Hollywood Reporter’s Most Powerful Women in Global Television; and the AdAge Creativity Award 2019 Visionary/Founder of the Year.

Rafati is a very active public speaker who has taken the stage at events such as TEDx Vancouver, the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, VidCon, Web Summit, CES, Newfronts, Financial Times Digital Media, DMEXCO, Business Insider's IGNITION, and Collision. A known thought leader in the entrepreneurship and media and technology space, she has also contributed to Fortune Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, and Wired.

Shahrzad supports several influential Boards and Associations, including G20 EMPOWER as its Co-Chair, Invest in Canada, Hootsuite, and Bjarke Ingels Group.