Anoosheh Oskouian came to the United States alone at fourteen years old. She had convinced her father to let her leave Iran before she finished high school, the same way she had once convinced her parents to change her birth certificate so she could start school early. She landed in Denver, finished high school at George Washington High, and then the revolution back home turned Iranians into targets overnight. So she did what she has done at every hard moment since: she set her own rules, kept her focus, and moved forward.

Decades later, that same resolve is the foundation of Ship & Shore Environmental, the Long Beach company she has built and grown organically for more than twenty-five years. Today, the firm designs and fabricates custom air pollution control systems for manufacturers across the country and around the world, and Anoosheh sits on the South Coast Air Quality Management District committee that helps write the very rules her machines are built to meet.

This is a conversation about grit, reinvention, and what it costs to be the only woman CEO in a room full of men. Anoosheh talks about the people who underestimated her, the young engineers she now mentors, the planet she is trying to leave cleaner than she found it, and why, after everything, she still believes the American dream is real. Challenging, of course. Difficult, of course. Impossible, never.

Key Takeaways

• Resilience is a discipline, not a moment. From arriving alone at fourteen to building a business overnight, Anoosheh's story is about deciding to move forward and refusing to be derailed.
• She bet everything on herself. Draining her 401 (k) to cover payroll and rent for two months, she insisted on doing it on her own, and 25 years of organic growth followed.
• She writes the rules and builds the solution. Sitting on the SCAQMD committee, Anoosheh helps shape air quality regulations and then engineers custom systems that enable manufacturers to meet them.
• Clean air has no borders. Her work spans the US and China because pollution migrates, and the goal is a cleaner planet, not a cleaner zip code.
• Representation changes the room. As the only woman CEO she knows in her field, Anoosheh mentors young women, opens her shop to interns, and proves what is possible by standing in the room and speaking her mind.

Chapters

• 00:00 Welcome and what this show is about
• 00:59 Meet Anoosheh Oskouian and Ship & Shore Environmental
• 03:30 Icebreaker: if your life were a movie
• 05:47 What culture means to Anoosheh
• 08:59 Leaving Iran alone at 14
• 11:31 The revolution, being a target, and going it alone
• 14:25 University of Colorado and a love of chemistry
• 15:49 Fluor Daniel and the road to Long Beach
• 18:30 The overnight bet that started the company
• 20:33 Growing the team and opening in China
• 22:32 What Ship & Shore designs and builds
• 26:58 Inside the process, from assessment to clean air
• 30:39 Writing the rules and building the technology
• 34:57 Being the only woman CEO in the room
• 38:13 Mentoring the next generation
• 41:23 A tour of the shop floor
• 44:03 The future of American manufacturing
• 49:38 Where to find Anoosheh

Find Anoosheh

LinkedIn: Anoosheh Oskouian
Ship & Shore Environmental: shipandshore.com