Arash Ghafoori
Executive Director / Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth (NPHY)
Where were you when you received your 40 Under 40 award? I was executive director at Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth.
Where are you now? Proudly, I am still the executive director at Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth.
What has been your biggest accomplishment since you were awarded? NPHY has expanded both physically and across the organization to make it the most comprehensive homeless youth provider in Southern Nevada, serving even more vulnerable youth in our community. Some of these achievements include more than doubling the size of NPHY’s Drop-In Center for homeless youth and partnering with UNLV on the UNLV HOPE Scholars program benefiting graduating Clark County high school homeless students.
What do you want to accomplish? I have three main goals I would like to accomplish in the next few years:
1. Making NPHY a local and national leader on the issue of youth homelessness.
2. Coordinating systems-level improvements around youth homelessness and other youth-related issues within our community.
3. Creating the best work environment and the happiest staff possible at NPHY.
What have you learned the hard way? First, you should always deal with burnout at the first sign. Second, you should take risks sooner, because it’s better to fall and get back up rather than not risking and not advancing in life.
What’s the best advice you have to offer? The best advice I can give comes in two of my favorite quotes: “The greatest glory is not never falling but in rising every time you fall,” and “leadership is action, not a title.”
Danielle Bisterfeldt
Danielle Bisterfeldt
Vice President of Marketing - Summerlin The Howard Hughes Corp.
Where were you when you received your 40 Under 40 award? Associate general manager of Fashion Show and director of marketing for Summerlin.
Where are you now? Vice president of marketing for Summerlin and Downtown Summerlin, responsible for all branding, PR and public special events for the Howard Hughes Corp. in Las Vegas.
What has been your biggest accomplishment since you were awarded? Forming an amazing marketing team at Summerlin. We continue to drive home sales for our builders, achieving the No. 5 spot on the list of the nation’s top-selling master-planned communities in 2016, according to national real estate consultant RCLCO.
What do you want to accomplish? The importance of work-life balance is something I strive for on behalf of my team and for my own personal benefit. I am also committed to the ongoing delivery of unique and memorable experiences to our community, given that Summerlin is home to almost 100,000 residents and Downtown Summerlin is visited by more than a million people each month. The value of the Summerlin brand is not lost on me. It has been carefully cultivated and nurtured over almost three decades, and I am highly cognizant of my responsibility to continue to ensure the brand remains evocative of the excellence and quality of the premier community it represents.
What’s the best advice you have to offer? Don’t let others compromise your standards. It’s your name associated with the end result. As leaders, remember to be mindful and appreciative of the efforts of those around you. It’s the people in our lives that make it so fulfilling, and oftentimes we lose sight of the struggles they face in their personal lives every day.