Paria Rajai

Paria Rajai is the CEO and Founder of ModelExpand and was previously the Head of Diversity & Inclusion at MissionU, which was acquired by WeWork in May 2018. At ModelExpand, they are focused on building a more diverse and inclusive culture in the tech industry.

Previously, Rajai was the Director of Marketing at Hackbright Academy, a coding school for women that was acquired by the Capella Education Company in April 2016. During their time at Hackbright, they led the team from early stage start-up through $18M acquisition by a publicly traded company. Paria also spearheaded the rebranding of the organization with more inclusive messaging and developed a successful email strategy, event programs, and content marketing plan that helped to 4x their recruiting goals.

Paria Rajai's educational career includes studying language, culture, and economics at the University of California, Los Angeles, as well as at Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, Spain. Paria has also taken an introductory course in computer programming at Hackbright Academy.