Dr. Maliheh Paryavi is a Harvard Ph.D. behavioral economist and women’s empowerment thought leader and advisor.

Dr. Paryavi has served as a strategic advisor to a diverse portfolio of women leaders and entrepreneurs, guiding them through periods of uncertainty and expansion, while elevating their impact-driven businesses and organizations to significantly higher levels of success. She also hosted “The Dr. Maliheh Paryavi Podcast”, which features her authentic and powerful conversations with the following world-renowned pioneers: Angela Duckworth, Iris Bohnet, Anousheh Ansari, Susan David, Christiane Northrup, Amaney Jamal, Valerie Jarrett, Kristin Neff, Tina Tchen, and Alexandra Carter.

Dr. Paryavi is the author of “The Womenifesto: A Call for Women to Remember, Come Together, and Birth a New World Order” and the bi-weekly “Thrive Letters”, where she brings together intellectual rigor, spiritual insights, and behavioral strategies to help women thrive and while leading and designing our world for the better.

Additionally, Dr. Paryavi spent years consulting for the World Bank Group, working to advance women’s entrepreneurship while analyzing human and organizational behaviors and challenges, and building the capacity of leaders and teams in diverse cultural settings.

She holds a Ph.D. in Political Economy and Government from Harvard University with expertise in behavioral and experimental economics and gender differences in decision-making. Dr. Paryavi also holds a Master in Public Administration in International Development (MPA/ID) from the Harvard Kennedy School and undergraduate degrees in economics and finance from the University of Maryland, College Park. She has also served as a fellow for the Women and Public Policy Program at the Harvard Kennedy School and the Editor in Chief of the Women's Policy Journal of Harvard.

Selected Thought Leadership

Thrive Letters

  1. “The Difference Between Being a Strong Woman and a Powerful Woman”, May 30, 2024

  2. “Four Keys to Embodying Self-Compassion”, February 8, 2024

  3. “Six Essential Reminders for Navigating Difficult Transitions”, April 6, 2023

  4. “A Leader’s Guide to Processing and Overcoming Negative Feedback”, April 21, 2022

  5. “Celebrating Women Isn’t Enough, Here’s How You Can Support Them”, March 8, 2022

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The Dr. Maliheh Paryavi Podcast

  1. “What are the Keys to Success?” with Angela Duckworth, New York Times bestselling author of Grit

  2. “How to Close the Gender Gap in Leadership” with Harvard University’s Professor Iris Bohnet

  3. “How to Thrive with Emotional Courage” with Dr. Susan David, Harvard Medical School psychologist and bestselling author of Emotional Agility

  4. “How to Find Your Voice” with Valerie Jarrett, former Senior Advisor to President Barack Obama

  5. “On Asking for More from Negotiations, Our Lives, and Our World” with Alexandra Carter, Columbia Law School Professor, and bestselling author of Ask for More: Ten Questions to Negotiate Anything

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Research

  1. “Women Lean Back When Representing Others in Competitions”, Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, 2024.

  2. “Women Don’t Avoid Competition: They Avoid Competing Against Men - Experimental Evidence from Kenya”, 2023, Washington, D.C.: World Bank Group (with Francisco Campos and Indhira Santos)

  3. “Descriptive Norms and Gender Diversity: Reactance from Men”, Journal of Behavioral Public Administration, 2019 (with Iris Bohnet and Alexandra van Geen)

  4. “Profiting from Parity: Unlocking the Potential of Women’s Businesses in Africa: Main Report”, World Bank Group, 2019 (with Francisco Campos, Indhira Santos, and others)

  5. “Essays on Gender and Decision Making in Political Economy” (Dissertation), Harvard University, 2016

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