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Alumni Profiles
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t thirteen years old, Shirin Etessam ’84 was among the first students to set foot in The House. When the school doors opened in September 1980, she arrived as a young 9th grader and marveled at what she saw.
“I felt I had landed either on some other planet—or in heaven,” says Shirin, who is founder and content and creative chief at Slay Agency in San Francisco. “It didn’t look like a school; it looked like a house. I had no reference for it: no bells, no lockers, and being told we were responsible for taking care of the school. There is nothing more humbling than giving a teenager a broom in front of their friends and saying, ‘No matter how cool you are you’re going to sweep the staircase.’” Four years earlier, Shirin and her older sister and mother had moved from their home in Iran to the United States. Her parents wanted to seek a better educational experience for their eldest daughter who was thirteen at the time. Then in 1979, Shirin’s father was hired by University of Washington to teach architecture and the family moved to Seattle. Entering the public middle school in 8th grade, Shirin experienced what turned out to be a miserable year. “It was right after of the Iran hostage crisis and as a young Iranian student I had a hard time. There was a lot of harassment and name calling. I was not happy.” Her parents heard of a new school opening on Capitol Hill, and as soon as Shirin toured the campus she applied and got accepted. 01
Becoming a Creative
Shirin Etessam ’84
Content and Creative Chief, Slay Agency
“Northwest felt like ‘come as you are,’” recalls Shirin. “I thought, wow, I can actually be who I am. I was very interested in theatre and, that first year, I was the youngest member of the play cast—I was really proud of that. I looked forward to coming to school and that was unusual—it had my attention.” In Humanities classes, Shirin remembered having big philosophical discussions. “I remember reading The Dancing Wu Li Masters, by Gary Zukav, which was not typical high school reading material. The topics we covered engaged me differently than I ever had been.” After graduating from Northwest, Shirin headed to San Francisco to pursue a degree in film with a minor in broadcasting at San Francisco State University. Though she wanted to continue acting her father worried that it wasn’t a viable profession for her. “He was worried about an Iranian girl in L.A. trying to be an actress. He encouraged me to make films instead.”
