How we began
Interwoven emerged from a personal quest to find belonging as people living across race and culture. After a lifetime of navigating mixed identity on our own as mixed race and multicultural people (who also happen to be in a mixed relationship–say that three times fast), we couldn’t find what we were looking for, and decided to build it ourselves.
In the summer of 2024, we started dreaming up the foundations of Interwoven from the ground up. We hosted our first mixed dinner in our San Francisco apartment a few months later with five people who said yes to trying something new with us. Since then, Interwoven has grown into the mixed community our younger selves could only dream of having.
We (Michaela and Parsa) are partners in life and the co-founders of Interwoven. It’s our honor to steward this organization, and if we haven’t had a chance to meet you yet, we can’t wait till we do!
Michaela Nee
Michaela is a gatherer to her core. She deeply believes in the magic that can happen when people thoughtfully come together, and loves to nerd out on designing experiences and community structures for belonging and connection. Her background in the nonprofit sector has spanned community building, event planning, and communications in many worlds, including storytelling, environmental coalition building, immigration, and financial security programs.
Growing up in the dance between Chinese and white heritage while moving every couple years in a military family, Michaela has pondered the question “where are you from” a whole lot. Rather than picking sides or trying to prove identity, she embraces the ambiguity and joy of being woven of many things.
Beyond Interwoven, you can find Michaela dreaming up another gathering, producing storytelling shows in San Francisco with The Moth, and checking out way too many books at the library with full delusion about being able to read them all.
Parsa Alipour
Parsa is a system builder, collaborator, and forward-looking believer in the future that he is working towards. His strengths lie in building pathways that serve intentional goals, telling stories, and bringing people together through a deeply relational way of moving through the world.
Straddling life between Iran, Canada and the US, Parsa’s upbringing fostered a multidimensional view of the world and sense of self. He thrives in pensive conversations about identity, art, culture, and what it means to live an intentional life.
Beyond Interwoven, you can find Parsa going down research rabbit holes of any topic you can imagine, organizing his family’s next reunion, or dabbling in music and writing.