What We Do

At ‘A More Balanced World’, we believe educational support strikes at the core of the school dropout epidemic. It yields measurable outcomes, including improved academic achievement, critical thinking, and work skills.

The organization was founded on the belief that there is an imbalance in educational opportunity between the privileged and the impoverished, as well as an innate desire in most people to help others. Where possible, ‘A More Balanced World’ seeks to connect the philanthropic to the deserving individuals to lift themselves out of poverty.

With a strong conviction that education is key to self-sufficiency, human dignity, and a better future, we opt for the long-term solution of supporting the underprivileged in their educational goals, rather than other temporary fixes.

What We Do

Developing the next generation through educational support across the planet

370+

Students
Supported

48

College
Graduates

58/42%

FEMALE/MALE
RATIO

8%

Low
Overhead

How We Do It

‘A More Balanced World’ targets youth and young adults who are unable to obtain an education due to lack of sufficient means and materials.

To make contact with our beneficiaries, the organization establishes individual representatives (or collaborates with other nonprofits within local communities), to help assess students’ eligibility, coordinate distribution of funds, monitor and provide updates on the students’ progress.

To date, ‘A More Balanced World’ has delivered its services solely depending on contributions from individual donors, rather than big grants. We invite you to contribute your Time, Talent, and Treasure to help ensure deserving students around the globe increase their chances of breaking out of the poverty cycle and prepare themselves for productive, meaningful, and fulfilling roles in society.

Who We Are

Our Board of Directors

Mandy Fazeli

MANDY FAZELI

Founder & President
Mandy founded ‘A More Balanced World’ with an instinct to right a world she recognized, as being too skewed to be fair.

With a life-long passion for social justice, her goal was to give under-privileged youth a chance to attain an education.  A More Balanced World has gone on to do much more – putting her multi-national perspective, management background and humanitarian instincts to work, Mandy has helped the organization gain momentum and grow into a beacon of hope to youth, empowering them to forge a better future.​​

Prior to 2016, when she stepped away from her corporate career to dedicate her time to the cause of creating a more balanced world, Mandy worked as an IT Management professional in a Fortune 500 company. Her past involvement with humanitarian organizations include: Habitat for Humanity, The Fulfillment Fund, and Chrysalis.​

Bobby Nabili

Bobby Nabili

Operations

Bobby is a Silicon Valley business executive with decades of Marketing and Sales experience in the technology industry, and currently serves as Director of Regional Sales at Cisco Systems.

An active supporter of ‘A More Balanced World’ since its inception, Bobby has over 25 years of experience serving at non-profit organizations, including NIPOC (Network of Iranian Professionals of Orange County), SIP (Society of Iranian Professionals) in Houston, and Orange County Mehregan Festival. Most recently he served on the Board of Khayyam Persian School Foundation.

Krishna Pai

Krishna Pai

Financial Advisor

An accomplished Information Technology leader in tech-enabled service companies, Krishna founded Invenger Technologies in 2004. As the President and CEO, he set and evolved the strategic direction for the company, while nurturing a strong team to drive its execution.

With nearly 25 years of global experience, Krishna has a strong track record of driving digital transformation for enterprises and his impact in insurance has earned him a number of professional honors, including the “Best business Achiever Award (International) – IT sector India”

Recognized for his volunteer and philanthropic work, Krishna is a passionate supporter of national and local charitable causes and was instrumental in setting up A More Balanced World.

Krishna received both his bachelor’s and master’s degree in computer science from the Manipal Institute of Technology (MIT), Karnataka, India.

Maryam Zar

Maryam Zar, J.D.

 
Maryam is the founder of Womenfound and a City Commissioner in Los Angeles for the Commission on the Status of Women.

She was born in Iran and came to the US in 1979.  In 1992 she returned to Iran where she worked as a correspondent at a time when the nation was emerging from war.  She was the Editor for an English language newspaper Iran News, where she also curated her win page on socio-economic shifts, post-war.   She returned to the States to pursue a law degree and currently chairs the LA Westside Regional Alliance of Councils.

Maryam was the VP of Communications for USNC UN Women LA, the founding Chair of the Pacific Palisades Task Force on Homelessness and was an elected Delegate for Assembly District 50.  Most recently, she helped LA’s Office of International Relations launch an effort to collect mask donations for Sister Cities and joined the team at the N95 Project, connecting PPE to frontline healthcare workers fighting the Covid pandemic.

Maryam has been instrumental in the establishment of A More Balanced World Student Outreach Program in Los Angeles to reduce college dropout rate among students experiencing or on the verge of homelessness.

Shirin Salehinia

Shirin Salehinia D.D.S.

Fundraising
Shirin has been in private practice since 1995 and a faculty at the University of Pacific Dugoni, School of Dentistry since 1997.

She has been donating her time as a general dentist to serve the local impoverished community at Samaritan House Clinic since 2007. Since joining the A More Balanced World’s Board in 2018, Shirin has been leveraging her passion for philanthropy and networking skills to drive the fundraising and grants efforts of the organization.

Our Team Members

Sangita Khot

Sangeeta Khot

Fundraising

Kian Kobari

Kian Kobari

Operations

Veeda Almeida

Veeda Almeida

Outreach

Kam Aramesh

Kam Aramesh

Fundraising

Leila Pezeshk

Leila Pezeshk

Outreach

Our Partners

Pearl Community Empowerment Foundation (Uganda)

Pearl Community Empowerment
Foundation (Uganda)

Center for Empowering Refugees and Immigrants (Oakland, CA)

Center for Empowering Refugees
and Immigrants (Oakland, CA)

Small Acts for Sustainability (Wellesley, MA)

Small Acts for Sustainability
(Wellesley, MA)

Pura Vida Missionary (Guatemala)

Pura Vida Missionary
(Guatemala)

Resources of Young Afghans (Afghanistan)

Namugga Mable Foundation