I create new imaginative possibilities—drawing from Iranian roots, diaspora consciousness, and cross-cultural traditions to write stories that restore silenced voices, platforms that preserve and generate fairy and folk tales, and bridges that connect languages and ways of seeing.

The Vision

What if we could restore the voices that history silenced? What if we could build spaces where ancient stories meet contemporary longing, where cultural memory becomes counter-history, where myths transform into doorways rather than monuments?

Folklore and mythology across cultures hold the values that make us human—love, kindness, bravery, justice. They reveal what we share regardless of background, borders, or language. Yet in the rush of the present those threads can slip from view. By bringing back these stories in new versions—through a female, multicultural lens—we can see our commonalities and imagine a culture that honors what connects us.

I’m building this vision across three interconnected practices: writing literary legends that blend Persian mythology with diaspora consciousness, creating interactive platforms to decode and archive fairy and folk tales, and translating between languages and traditions—both literally and imaginatively.

The Stories

I write what I call literary legends—hybrid forms that resist easy labels. Part myth, part fairy tale, part realism, these interlinked stories explore transformation, feminine power, grief, and the healing possibilities of time.

Some draw from Persian mythology and women’s oral traditions—a mountain that shelters a fleeing princess and witnesses her transformation, seas that grieve and remember. Others blend Eastern and Western story traditions. Still others are purely imaginative, unmoored from any specific folklore. Told through a female, multicultural lens, all share a common principle: reimagining what is, creating new imaginative possibilities for a better world—for all of us. They create spaces where past and present coexist, where landscape becomes character, and loss becomes sustaining.

I’m currently refining a collection of seven interlinked short stories into a manuscript that aims to be both culturally rooted and universally resonant.

The Archive

Stories need homes—and they need to be studied. I initiated TaleDecode, a collaborative digital archive and research platform that investigates the mechanisms by which narratives endure across centuries and cultures. Working with writers, artists, researchers, technologists, and designers at Urban Debug, we’ve created a living archive of over 400 literary fairy and folk tales from 120 classical authors.

The platform facilitates systematic study of these narratives, allowing researchers to trace patterns, archetypal themes, and cultural transmission to understand what gives certain stories their longevity. It makes possible examining how oral traditions transform into written texts, how literary archives function as sites of both preservation and erasure, and how narratives circulate and adapt across cultural boundaries.

This ongoing work makes cultural memory searchable, categorizable, and generative—preserving existing narratives while making room for new ones. As it evolves, TaleDecode will grow to house not just existing fairy and folk tales but new stories that continue the tradition of cultural imagination.

The same instinct that shapes my fiction—building bridges, creating doorways—guides this collaborative effort. How do we make cultural knowledge navigable? How do we honor what exists while inviting what might be?

The Bridges

Living between languages shaped not just my vocabulary but my sensibility. English gave me precision; Persian gave me rhythm. Between them, I learned to see meaning as something built, rebuilt, and crossed again.

I co-translated the poetry of Houshang Ebtehaj (H. E. Sayeh), one of Iran’s most beloved modern poets, with Chad Sweeney in The Art of Stepping Through Time. Years ago, through the cultural organization Yalda (named for the winter solstice), I taught Persian to English-speaking students and hosted a weekly Farsi radio program where I read stories for children. These experiences taught me that what moves people most is not exotic difference but shared humanity.

As a product design strategist and organizational leader at Blurred Whisper and Urban Debug—having led design teams, founded companies, and served on technology and arts boards—I’ve learned to map how people navigate complex systems: where they encounter confusion or clarity, how to guide them through transformation. This work translates human need into imaginative form that betters the lives of users.

The Synthesis

These aren’t separate pursuits. They’re different expressions of the same commitment: to create spaces where cultures can reimagine themselves, where silenced voices can surface, where memory and myth can generate new possibilities.

I write from a distinctly female gaze, viewing history and myth-making from overlooked angles. The heroines who filled my childhood were unafraid, full of agency and grace. The women of my family confirmed that truth—their strength rooted, vocal, unyielding. Their ability to remake the world infuses everything I create.

Whether I’m shaping a story about a mountain that sings, building a platform to decode fairy and folk tales, or translating poetry across languages, I’m doing the same work: keeping memory, making myths, building bridges.

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Collaboration

I welcome inquiries from researchers, educational institutions, and cultural practitioners interested in contributing to or learning more about this work. If you’d like to explore collaboration opportunities or discuss these projects further, please get in touch.

Contact: mm@mojdeh.com

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