Meet Ghazaleh Afrahi, founder and CEO of Shifting Shap3s. Holder of two bachelors and a MSc, she was originally trained as a product design engineer. Not one to rest on her laurels, she has since put on yet another hat: that of hard-tech entrepreneur. 

After briefly working alongside regional fellow entrepreneurs in Atlantic Canada, she struck out on her own. Her goal? To create a company that merges cutting-edge technology with user-centered design and ambitious—yet attainable—sustainability goals. The result? Her brainchild: Shifting Shap3s. 

Undeterred by doubters and naysayers, she forged her own path, proving that idealism and good business don’t have to be mutually exclusive. Always focused on the relationship between product and end user, she takes people as her point of departure when setting out to create bold and innovative new concepts. 

A female entrepreneur and part of a visible minority, she has had to work twice as hard for recognition and faced double the scrutiny. But rather than let that deter or even discourage her, she wears it as a badge of honor; everything she has achieved, she has earned—and then some! 

Ever curious, she is a fearless student of all technology that has the potential of benefitting her concepts. A new challenge? Yes, please! Teaming up with collaborators scattered across the globe from North America to Europe and Asia, she continues to push the envelope of sustainable hard tech. 

Ghazaleh currently lives with her husband in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on Canada’s rugged Atlantic coast. Sustained by long walks on the beach and inspiring road trips, she conceives of new ways to improve the relationship between the planet, the people, and the things they use.