Solmaz Ziaabadi is a Women Entrepreneurship Specialist at ONSIDE, where she supports the Start Now Incubator community through active engagement with women-focused organizations and entrepreneurs. Her role includes coordinating and managing community events, overseeing participant onboarding, data collection, and project management. She also contributes to research, program design, marketing, social media, and other key administrative functions that strengthen the program’s impact.

Before moving to Canada, Solmaz spent over a decade as an entrepreneur in Iran, where she built an aromatherapy online platform that served hundreds of thousands of customers. After relocating, she earned her Master’s in Technology Entrepreneurship and Innovation from Saint Mary’s University in January 2023. Since then, she has been dedicated to supporting racialized and underrepresented women entrepreneurs through her work with various non-profit organizations. Having experienced the barriers to entrepreneurship firsthand, Solmaz is deeply committed to building a more inclusive and equitable entrepreneurial ecosystem in Nova Scotia through her work at ONSIDE.