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May 26 - June 30, 2023 Volume 45, Issue 71
Maryam Zar named Women of the Year by State Senator Zar is a lawyer and decade-long resident of the Palisades By Keemia Zhang Maryam Zar, president of the Pacific Palisades Community Council, was named Women of the Year by State Senator Ben Allen earlier this year. Zar, a lawyer and decade-long resident of the Palisades alongside her husband and three children, holds a number of positions across several civic projects. She is the chair of the Westside Regional Alliance of Councils Land Use and Planning Committee, founding chair of the Palisades Homelessness Task Force, secretary of the local Park Advisory Board, and chair of the board of the Palisades YMCA. “It’s an instinct really, without any sense of boundary.” explains Zar, when asked about her passion for community. Zar first served as Council Chair from 2016 to 2018, and is now serving a second presidency in the community. “People wanted change – which is strange to
say that I would be changed, but maybe people wanted a different sort of modus operandi to get things done.” Zar views the Palisades as a “very tightknit, little community with a sense of neighborliness. It’s important that during these exchanges we don’t lose that.” Alongside other members of the council, Zar hosted a Public Safety meeting last month, which she believes is important to address local concerns. “People were wondering, is my community safe? People feel secure from getting their questions answered.” Allen, a longtime friend of Zar’s, also lauded her involvement in the Women Life Freedom Movement, an Iranian women’s rights campaign born from the Mahsa Amini protests which began last year. “PersianAmerican women have led the fight to make sure their struggle is not ignored – Maryam has been a leader in this effort,” said Allen in a statement. “Her leadership builds upon years of community service in the Palisades and broader LA region.” The commemoration ceremony “actually happened on Nawruz, so we decided to milk it for all it’s worth,” says Zar,with a traditional Haft-sin table, a cultural altar with different
symbolic objects to celebrate the Persian New Year, being set up at the venue while Zar was awarded. Senator Allen’s constituency comprises one of the most densely populated Persian communities in the state. “California does have the most concentration of Persians outside Iran,” explains Zar. Zar was among those who lobbied for the successful California Senate Concurrent Resolution 6, which expressed legislative support for the Iranian protests and encouraged the United States government’s response to the Iranian government’s repression. “Our goal is to get it in all fifty states, hopefully it starts with New York and goes from there.” proclaims Zar, who warns about the waning discussions regarding the protests. “The news of the protests has been dwindling down, but we have to keep speaking about it and talking about it because women are still being gassed, and still taking their scarves off in public and protesting against the government.” Despite public encouragement, Zar has expressed little desire to run for public office. “I might run for state assembly. It’s more national and generational but besides that,
not really.” Zar, who left Iran in 1979, has stated that it is a “privilege and luxury to help out your community, to solve problems, and getting people together to solve a problem. And reminding people to be kind.”
Local Couple Launch Story Creation App The Creation Platform Let’s Kids Make Adventures. By Keemia Zhang Palisades Entrepreneurs Dr. Renee Dua and Nick Desai have launched their third collaborative app, SmartDreams, on April 4th. The app uses AI to generate custom bedtime stories for children, based on their age, reading level, and storytelling preferences. Desai, who was raised in Orange County, has worked in the entrepreneurial space for thirty years, but began working with his wife, Dr. Dua, in 2014. “Renee and I started a company together in the healthcare space, we’ve been entrepreneurs together ever since then” says Desai. Heal, “an Uber-like app”, provides doctor house calls. “We started, literally, with me driving her around.” The company went on to raise $200 million in funding and operated
across ten states before being sold to Humana in 2021. “I’m a kidney doctor, I’ve been in practice for 20 years – and I still do practice, but now I’m home much more with the kids.” remarks Dua. Their three children, aged four to nine, played an active part in the app’s development and design. “If we don’t know what we’re doing, we can hear all about it.” “The app came out of, literally – one day I was working out of the master bedroom,” explains Desai.” Our daughter comes up to me, and goes “Daddy, I want you to tell me a story. I say get the book, and she says, ‘No, I want you to make a story about a bear eating pizza in a forest.’ And right then, inspiration struck.” After signing up, parents and children can use SmartDreams by selecting cartoon images of animals, settings, and foods, which are used to generate their unique, specific story each time. “You don’t cut down trees, you don’t spend money, but you get an infinite number of stories.”
The app took a month to develop using Chat GPT, an artificial intelligence chatbot. Precautions were taken to ensure safe, appropriate content and consumer privacy. The stories are customized “based on the age of the kid, the story’s length, and the words that are used.” Desai explains. “Each story reflects a life lesson, you know, being a good friend, sharing, teamwork, the environment, each of these things are incorporated very subtly into the story.” Fun facts also appear about the animals and setting selected, as a further educational element. The couple’s children are described as enthusiastic readers of the app. “What’s really cute is [their daughter] asks for it now. She understands how the story comes alive. She’s able to pick what she wants to see and learn.” Dua says. Parents can also use the app to select vocabulary words, allowing their children to learn in an imaginative environment. “It’s them learning and me having less work to do to make sure they’re learning […] It’s more for kids to just see their creativity come to life.”
The app is free to use, with additional paid features that require licensing – such as readalouds from favorite Disney characters – as an upcoming update. Other future developments include custom avatars, where children can upload pictures of themselves to be inserted into the story’s visuals, and custom illustrations. SmartDreams currently works for English and Spanish speakers, and aims to operate in multiple languages.