{"id":6976,"date":"2021-08-23T02:13:42","date_gmt":"2021-08-23T02:13:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.weriseup.com\/thejournal\/?p=6976"},"modified":"2021-08-31T02:20:55","modified_gmt":"2021-08-31T02:20:55","slug":"taco-bell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.weriseup.com\/thejournal\/stories\/taco-bell\/","title":{"rendered":"Taco Bell"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Photo Credit- Courtesy The Ferdowsi Family<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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From Persecution to Prosperity-
One Family\u2019s Journey to Freedom<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"IMG-AUTHOR-Olivia-Daane@2x\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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BY olivia daane<\/div>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF<\/b> Olivia Q. Daane has served as the Editor of Elevated Luxury Life magazine and has worked extensively as a freelance writer with her writing being featured in Aspen Luxury Life, Elevated Luxury Life, Aspen Real Life, Opera Gallery art books and has recently co-authored and published \u201cPower Lines\u201d with Anthony Haden-Guest. Her featured subjects include Train, Steven Soderbergh, Lukas Nelson, Michael Franti, Tom Morello and Astro-physicist Lawrence Krauss. In addition, she is a painter (known for her butterfly series begun in 2008), art consultant and has over 15 years of successful brand management, gallery ownership and representation of her visual mediums including current representation in Opera Gallery, Aspen. Olivia\u2019s niche is building content that can make a difference; sharing the incredible stories of people at the pinnacle or on their way within their lives and pursuits. \n<\/div>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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The fact that Taco Bell is entering into the green footprint footrace is exciting.<\/b> They are the first in the industry teaming up with TerraCycle to recycle those hot sauce packets that can now be a (slightly) less guilty pleasure. And the story behind how they got here and the people that grew this company to its current over the (half-taco) moon global status, is true inspiration. One of those Taco Bell team players is Imaan Ferdowsi\u2014franchisee for the Nashville market and a partner at MRCO, LLC. Imaan also serves as a Director on the Taco Bell Franchise Management Advisory Council (FRANMAC) and as a Director on the Taco Bell Foundation. \n<\/div>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Photo Credit- Courtesy The Ferdowsi Family<\/div>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\"There are no easy outs when it comes to reversing an extinction and effecting big changes, but there is a lot of power in adding the small choices together.\"<\/div>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Taco Bell is giving its customers a new step as it eases into sustainability at the drive-through of life and continues to fund the dreams and education of youth nationwide.

\n\nImaan Ferdowsi says he had \u201ca pretty normal childhood growing up in a simpler Nashville, Tennessee, of the 1980s.\u201d His dad was a hard worker and instilled that hard work ethic in Imaan and his brothers at an early age. They worked hard and early\u2014Imaan\u2019s first summer job was selling fro yo at the Zoo at 13. The zoo in the backyard family ranch in Cheatham County that began what is now the famous Nashville Zoo \u2026 perhaps not what others call the norm. Owning a zoo with timberwolves and Bengal tigers was just a piece of his day-to-day childhood. The work ethic was just as unique stemming from generations of the gratitude and grit of an immigrant\u2019s progress. \u201cTragedy hit my extended family like a freight train. Maybe it was luck, fate or a combination of both. They were able to pick up the pieces and create a new life in this country,\u201d Imaan explains with reverence to this history.\n\nThe family remains strongly-rooted in the Baha'i Faith, founded in Iran in the 19th century. \u201cThe Islamic clergy, community and government has always seen the Baha\u2019i Faith as a direct threat to them. They have faced persecution, murder, torture. All the worst things humans can do to each other, Baha'i have endured.\u201d The principle that \u2018the earth is but one country and mankind its citizens\u2019 is a Baha\u2019i belief. We look at the earth and its peoples on a global scale.\u201d

\n\nImaan\u2019s education included service work in Costa Rica at 17 years old in the rainforest in a simple Bahai village. Imaan saw two different cultures from two different worlds connecting and learning from each other. The education he and his brothers received beyond just the incredible academics at University school, were experiences just like these\u2014learning laterally. Seeing people with happiness in their hearts and eyes, \u201cat such a young age despite their poverty and simple living,\u201d Imaan insists changed him forever. \u201cMy mom speaks six languages and I\u2019m trilingual (English, Persian and Spanish).\u201d Being a citizen of the world is an intrinsic part of his identity.

\n\nThe story begins in Iran. His grandfather, Fatullah Ferdowsi, was an automaker\/industrialist importing tires and manufacturing Mazda commercial trucks for the country. He was a leader of the Iranian business community as well as a member of the Local Spiritual Assembly in the Baha\u2019i community. It was a close, beautiful life with dozens of cousins visiting their beach house in the Caspian Sea via a bus that would haul 40\u201450 family members from Tehran to the oceanside on the weekends. All the children came to the States to get an education to study engineering and return to the family business\u2014to one day take over\u2014a very primogeniture culture. Imaan tries to explain and even to fathom this culture and how it shifted so quickly. \u201cIran is a peculiar place. I knew it growing up as an evil, backwards, terrorist barbarian culture. What you see on TV is a scary place to be. Prior to the revolution of 79, it was a totally different place, very cosmopolitan. Jimmy Carter had called it out, naming it as the stable and prosperous country in the Middle East. All I ever knew about it was tragedy and terror. It was hard my whole life to see it in a positive light.\u201d

\n\nImaan\u2019s father enrolled in Kansas U in 1965 with a double major in engineering. He was the second son. \u201cMy uncle went right back to the factory after graduation. My father chose to stay in America and keep his independence.\u201d He had told his father it was for a few months, never truly anticipating it would be for long. Honeywell had made him an offer for an engineering job but he chose the road less traveled and decided to continue working for Pizza Hut, a job he had while going to school. Soon the high paying management position opened a new opportunity, as his best friend, Homey Aminmadani, offered him a partnership opportunity in a Pizza Hut franchise he had set up. Months turned into years. \u201cMy grandfather was very upset that the two engineering degrees were not coming back to work within the family business. At the time, there was no word for Pizza in Iran, so he would tell people with dismay, his son had become a baker.\u201d

\n\nIn 1977 Imaan\u2019s father met his mom through a family friend while she was studying at Georgetown University. She had lived in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia because her family moved there to spread the Baha\u2019i faith. While living there, fate had it that her father also became the dentist of the imperial family of Haile Salassi. Yet another story for another day of fleeing persecution. Imaan\u2019s grandfather came to visit his \u201cbaker\u201d son and beautiful wife in America. The Shah was in power and the country was stable. Imaan stresses that by the next trip \u201cin 79, you could see rising opposition to the Shah and the monarchy. My father vividly remembers a time when they watched the news and social upheaval together and begging his father not to return. My grandfather had a target on his back. His response was, \u2018If I leave, then who is going to take care of all the other Baha'is who can\u2019t leave?\u2019\u201d\n\n\n<\/div>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Photo Credit- Courtesy The Ferdowsi Family<\/div>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Imaan\u2019s grandfather was a special man, a brave man. The human spirit and strength required to not abandon his people is in Imaan\u2019s nostalgic and literal fiber. The revolution happened. The borders closed. The hostage crisis. The US became the number one enemy. The country was upside down. The Islamic Republic under Khomeni began arresting and executing heads of the community. They were martyrs. They had the choice to convert, but they all chose to hold their faith and be executed as a result.\nImaan's grandfather and his uncle Faran were sent to the notorious Evin prison. There they were tortured for months, which then evolved into the death warrant for both of them. On the bus to be executed, his great uncle convinced the person in charge to release one of the men. His grandfather sent his son Faran off the bus that day, but remained on. \u201cMy father got this tragic call and then managed to get the whole family\u20143 brothers, a sister, a cousin,2 sisters and all their children\u2014 in waves to safety in Tennessee. Whether it was traveling on foot through the mountains of Pakistan, or in a high speed car chase to the border, Imaan\u2019s family members were smuggled to safe places and finally arrived in Nashville. I never got to meet my grandfather. He got to see me once on a film reel when I was just a year old. I think he is with me somehow,\u201d Imaan can barely share this true story through the emotion.

\n\nThis is the choice\u2014to look at all that darkness and continue to dream, to continue to put one foot in front of the other, to continue to contribute despite the realities and foibles of humankind. Faith lifts spirits out of disgust, despair and into compassion. Education and giving back are a part of the Ferdowsi family and they have done so over the decades here in the Nashville community. Much of this giving is thanks to Taco Bell and the foundation they have put in place. The Taco Bell Foundation has awarded more than 110 million dollars in scholarships and grants to youth-serving nonprofit organizations focused on education and career readiness. Sometimes it is hard to remember, that amidst business hoops and acumen, behind life in the fast-food lane, there are people with inspiring stories of lives dedicated to going above and beyond the mere day-to-day. Amidst the growth and productivity, there is an intention to lead and stand for one\u2019s values to do the right thing. Therefore the successes are rich beyond lions and tigers and bears, beyond wildest dreams. The ice cream cones and fantasy of Imaan\u2019s childhood\u2014 proof that traumas can heal and transform. Imaan life is born of the gumption to continue to reinvent and to heal what human beings do out of fear and misinformation.

\n\nImaan\u2019s childhood dream, drawing in Kindergarten, was one of a boy with a briefcase. He wrote,\u201cI am going to grow up to be my father.\u201d Imaan explains clearly, \u201cMy grandfather was my spiritual role model with his bravery and devotion to faith. My life role model was my father and seeing him as a successful businessman with such a magnanimous character.\u201d At the end of 2017, Imaan was able to pivot from his own insurance venture and come into the family business at last. He is glad he had time away from it because he knows the skills and experiences he acquired, he can now bring back into the business. His father, brother and Homey and his kids are still \u201cthe \u201cteam.\u2019\u201d \u201cWe are all Partners and don\u2019t need a specific title to navigate our roles and responsibilities within the company. He is thriving in Operations, Development and Outreach to make his legacy one to follow just as he walks in the footsteps of his role models. He has the same drive to prove himself to himself; to take what was given and to run with it, in his own way, in his own direction and with the wellness of a global universe in mind. We are all role models for the next generation. We look inside ourselves and those who came before us and through this source of identity, find our way and ways to give back. What a gift to merge material with spiritual. Human beings can choose to be on a treasure hunt to learn and keep our minds open to these worlds apart. We can take every day and envision it as a modern day Pangea, dissolve the borders physically and mentally created, and connect with the people in our global community. As the Baha\u2019i say, \u201cthe earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens.\u201d Whatever Imaan does next, he is not taking it lightly. My feeling after meeting him\u2014A double decker taco will never taste the same and now we can join them in making a difference through education by giving to The Taco Bell Foundation\u2014as easy as one hot sauce packet at a time.

\n\nOD: \u201cWhat\u2019s Next?\u201d

\nIF: \u201cI want to grow the restaurant portfolio with the new generation team. We want to grow domestically and internationally. With the TB Foundation doing so much good there is joint effort between franchisees and corporate to drive passion and education and youth aspirations and dreams. Scholarships and investments into education and start-ups. To give them whatever it is to help them grow. We are becoming more of an international brand. We want to give opportunities and expand what people perceive as their ceiling or limits\u2014to not label; to promote civic duty and social responsibility. We have been given so much and we have to use it to help others.\u201d\n

\n\nOD: \u201cOn your playlist?\u201d

\nIF: \u201cChildren\u2019s singer Andy Grammer\u2019s father Red Grammer. I really like Rap, Travis Scott, and Tame Impala.

\nOD: \u201cOn your bedside?\u201d

\nIF: The book, \u201c41: A Portrait of my Father\u201d by George W. Bush for his father George H. W. Bush. I like learning about the values of great people and, of course, father-son connections.\n

\n\nImaan is truly a tapestry of his forerunners. He presents as more focused and wiser than his years. He gives himself some rare slack and becomes animated at the success of it all, but one can sense that he knows believing in himself comes from the focus it takes\u2014vision and intention put into real practice. Speaking with him was both educational and heart wrenching. His voice and manner is calming with the inherited twist of the mixture of whimsical caprice backed with the fortitude to make anything possible\u2014the kind of dreams-come-true born of a combination of true necessity, drive and leaps of faith.\n<\/div>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Photo Credit - Courtesy Imaan Ferdowsi<\/div>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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tacobellfoundation.org<\/a><\/div>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Photo Credit- Courtesy The Ferdowsi Family From Persecution to Prosperity- One Family\u2019s Journey to Freedom BY olivia daane EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Olivia Q. Daane has served as the Editor of Elevated Luxury Life magazine and has worked extensively as a freelance writer with her writing being featured in Aspen Luxury Life, Elevated Luxury Life, Aspen Real Life,\u2026 <\/svg><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_header_footer","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,21],"tags":[42],"class_list":["post-6976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-issue-2","category-stories","tag-issue-2"],"yoast_head":"\nTaco Bell - WERISEUP<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n