Money & Me: 'My finances give me freedom to be generous'

Soraya Beheshti, regional director of an admissions consulting company, says experiences are worth much more than the money spent on them

Soraya Beheshti, regional director of Crimson Education, first started earning money as a child model. Khushnum Bhandari / The National

Soraya Beheshti is regional director of college admissions consulting company Crimson Education in Dubai, where she was born to Iranian and New Zealand parents.

Her earning journey began as a child model and she embarked on enterprises including baking, jewellery-making, an online health food shop, hostessing, working as an au pair in Italy, as well as interning in Russia and volunteering in Vietnam and France.

Ms Beheshti established Crimson’s Mena presence while still studying at New York’s Columbia University. She returned to Dubai after graduating to expand one of the education technology start-up’s most profitable regions.

She is also the author of The Karavan Kitchen, a plant-based cookbook and anthology of stories, poetry and recipes compiled from refugees, and donated the proceeds to organisations that provide essential aid to displaced people.

Ms Beheshti, 27, is single and lives in Al Bada’a, Dubai.

Was money present in your childhood?

My dad was a photographer, later a documentary filmmaker, mum an interior designer. When I was a child, they ran the largest modelling agency and production studio in the UAE.

But the creative industry is volatile, they would often get paid late by a client and then have to pay out of their pocket for models or photographers.

They were stressed about that. I knew money was a cause of concern, but I never felt I was going hungry. I always felt comfortable.

We moved to New Zealand when I was eight and my mum started her own business. There were tough periods for my parents, but they shielded us.

When did you first get paid?

I started working in front of the camera when I was three months old, a child actor for commercials, I think it was for diapers. Then I was regularly working, our parents put away that money and it paid for a lot of our education.

I didn’t know I was doing anything for money, I just enjoyed doing it, but it set me up to have a really good work ethic. I did one commercial with the director of Tomb Raider.

When I was 11, I really wanted a dog. That was the only time I ever dipped into the fund.

By that point, I knew we had earned money, but I wasn’t really interested in taking it. I was a sporty kid and didn’t really care about other stuff.

But you discovered an appetite for earning?

I was extremely conservative about money. I’ve always been a saver and was always trying to make money, very entrepreneurial, always selling things.

When I was seven, I knew where to find my customers and would guilt them into buying my drawings or cookies.

I would spend summers picking fruit, which is hard work but you learn the value of money.

At 13, I moved to high school in Dubai and started to make and sell jewellery for pocket money.

Then I worked in a shop. I really wanted a camera, but wanted to buy it myself. By the time I was 16, I’d saved about Dh6,000 ($1,633) and bought this camera. It was precious because I’d worked so much for it.

I would earn money, then have internships. They were the important thing, but the money helped. Then I started to save for university.

I was doing a food [website] business, I started working with Crimson when I was 19, then really needed money in my last year of university, so I went full-time [with them].

Why that company?

My education was my best investment and the most important thing in terms of transforming my life.

Columbia was an incredible place. I became a different person, I learnt how to think there. So I love being able to help other people have that.

Soraya Beheshti says she has always been a saver. Khushnum Bhandari / The National

Sending more people from our region to these elite spaces is world changing, they are interfacing with future presidents and prime ministers.

I really wanted to do something impactful, whether it was my vegan business or start-up building a blockchain-based utility token for refugees.

Crimson incubates impact … we’re creating future entrepreneurs who are going to create companies and solve many problems.

Although university placements is how we measure our success, we’re really trying to prepare students for the future they’re going to graduate into.

What’s your spending and saving balance?

I’m still largely a saver, but I’ve started to see the value of treating yourself to things you enjoy, things that make you feel good as an act of self-care.

And spending time with friends or on travel. I don’t buy a lot of stuff, but experiences are important and worth so much more than the money I spent on them.

The best part about having money is being able to be generous, whether that’s in your charitable giving or being able to treat your friends.

Do you actively grow your wealth?

I do invest, not intensely, mostly on equities and usually with things I believe in ethically.

I’ve been vegan for 12 years, so Beyond Meat was something I believed in early and did really well, and Oatly.

My education was my best investment and the most important thing in terms of transforming my life

Soraya Beheshti,
regional director, Crimson Education

When I was in college, my mum and I got into trading cryptocurrencies and we financed a year of my university that way. I have KiwiSaver, as well, which is a pension fund.

Any financial milestones?

I’ll be buying my first property soon, in London. I spend quite a bit of time there. It is a very safe investment.

How do you feel about money?

I play and write music and paint, but decided not to go the creative pathway because I valued security. I didn’t want the kind of stress I saw the creatives in my family have.

If you have money, it’s not going to bring you happiness, but it allows you the freedom to do those things you love. It’s an avenue.

Rather than struggle as a musician, you can have a stable job and then have the money to spend on music lessons or instruments.

What are you happy paying for?

Travel is extremely important to me and money has allowed me to be the kind of friend that I want to be … a friend who takes care of their friends.

And take care of myself, whether that’s spending on health and wellness, travel or concerts.

Any experience like that is worth whatever you’re going to spend because you’ll remember it for ever.

Any memorable spending moments?

My parents came to New York for my graduation and I took them to dinner at Cipriani; the first time I had really been able to treat them to something like that.

It symbolised me being able to take on a role as an adult, and to treat my parents who’ve taken care of me my whole life.

What about future goals?

I want to have the security to do things that I love. I also want to restart my [refugee blockchain] start-up and have a series of businesses aligned with my ethical beliefs that I would like to launch.

I did all the things I was supposed to do … studied at a top university, worked, saved, I will have invested in property and equities.

The next chapter of my life will be doing cool things, which also make financial sense.