Today we’d like to introduce you to Arzo Yusuf
Hi Arzo, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was born in The Kingdom of Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion that led to a coup d’etat. On my mother’s side of the family, many people in my family held postions in Parliament. My Great Uncle was the Prime Minister. My Great Grandfather was Governor to many provinces and Senator of the Upper House. His brothers also high ranking Government leaders that built a significant part of the country’s modern infrastructure in the early 1900s through the 1970s. My family lineage has a long line of leadership dating back centuries. In 1839 our province was infiltrated by British soldiers and by 1841 my great, great, great grandfather lead the resistance against the British army eventually leading to the liberation from colonization in 1919. My grandfather and his brothers continued the legacy and were the country’s highest ranking Generals. My father’s side of the family had a long history of being in trade and business traveling through the famed silk road, eastern and western Europe. My great, great, great grandfather was influenced through his travels and brought to the country one of the famed dishes, Qabuli Palow.
But our family and the civilians of the Kingdom lost everything as a result of the Soviet invasion and were forced to flee. We became political asylum refugees and entered the United States in 1982. Our family left everything behind and being part of the aristocratic class in society quickly turned to starting our lives over in America as part of the lowest economic class. My mother worked as a seamstress in a dry cleaner and my father was given a job by Catholic Community Services helping to resettle other Afghan refugees. All of my clothes were purchased at the Salvation Army and my mother said on our worst day we only had a small cornish game hen in the refrigerator when a large group of family came by for a visit. In Afghan culture, hospitaly is the number one value and even if you only own one loaf of bread you must feed it to your visitor making them feel comfortable and at home. This is the Afghan code of honor.
Learning to navigate life in America as a first generation refugee was difficult, especially in the 1980s. There was no one to teach us about American culture other than what we watched on television. Three’s Company was the favorite show of 80s Afghan refugees. The Cosby Show and Growing Pains was what we watched and the Friday line up was Full House, Step By Step, Perfect Strangers and Just the Ten of Us. In elementary school, I was pretty quiet and felt different than the other kids so I became very introverted hoping to become invisible so no one would notice me. I’d wear black clothes, play alone at recess and ate lunch with the “weird kids.” I didn’t mind eating lunch with them, it made me sad that no one wanted to include them so I happily shared my snacks and laughed with them at their funny stories. And I guess I was a little “weird” too lol! From an early age, I felt a deep sense of compassion for others and enjoyed being a helper. I volunteered to be a crossing guard after school and was a student aid to the disabled students for a few hours a week. Our parents were hard at work and my sister and I were latch key kids. We lived in an impoverished neighborhood and were always afraid walking home from school.
My dad faced an illness and eventually my parents divorced when I was 10 years old. Our already challenged life became even more difficult for our single mother. We got through our teenage years on my mother’s $13 an hour salary and a $300 a month child support check from my father. I would take babysitting jobs for neighbors making some pocket money. As soon as I could get a work permit at age 14 I got my first real job at the Dairy Queen making blizzards. One time I pulled the cup out before the blender stopped and covered myself and a customer in blizzard. I was fired as a result. My next job was working at a mall kiosk selling lotions and nail kits to passerbys. I was very polite and not outspoken and often too shy to outsell my co-workers. Once I got my drivers license and car I started working at a high end women’s clothing store making minimum wage. In my senior year of high school I was hired to work in the cosmetic department at Macy’s for Lancome.
After high school I went to community college to major in business eventually transferring to the University of Southern California’s Leventhal School of Accounting. My little brother Alex got cancer during this time and passed away. It was a very heartbreaking time in my life.
After college I pursued operations management and worked for small to mid size companies alongside the CEOs helping to build processes, departments and assisting in structuring the organizations. I also did consulting projects for large corporations creating training and process management systems.
In my personal life I found myself in a four year long abusive relationship that completely changed me. It was a hard time but eventually I got out of it. I lost everything and had to completely rebuild myself and my life. I made a bucket list and started doing things on my list. I started making short films. I took up sailing which helped to rebuild my confidence. I volunteered at the public library as a storyteller and read to kids every Monday for 2 hours. Being around the innocence of those kids significantly led to my healing. I love the ocean and animals and became a speaker for Heal the Bay and do ocean pollution talks for kindergartners. I’m also a public speaker for the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence.
Eventually I founded an indie beauty brand called Sexy Boss Babe. We launched with a line of DIY nail kits called ‘Quick Nails’ that can be applied in 5 minutes. The brand identity is about women empowerment. The brand is accompanied by a podcast of the same name focused on female centric topics. Sexy Boss Babe supports charities helping foster youth and survivors of sex trafficking through the #sbbmovement.
I also got involved in a nonprofit helping foster youth called Angels Nest. I was elected to be on the Board of Director’s and then President. Now I’m the Executive Director and I oversee 5 programs, four of which I launched. We have University partnerships supporting former foster youth on campus through Guardian Scholars at CSUDH, CSULA, CPP and CULB. We have a Resource Navigator Program connecting youth with resources for housing, tuition, job support and various life emergencies. That program is ran entirely by former foster youth through the Angels Nest career development program in partnership with iFoster. We also host field trips to create community for the youth we serve. In 2024 we opened our own housing program for young females that aged out of foster care experiencing homelessness called “Wings of Empowerment” which is in partnership with Butterfly’s Haven. This work led to me giving a TEDx Talk, “End Sex Trafficking by Helping Foster Youth” and filming the documentary, “Breaking The Cycle” about what youth experience in foster care.
I care about the community a lot and serve on multiple Board of Directors including the Century City Chamber of Commerce where I’m also the co-Chair of the Women’s Business Council and former co-Chair of the Business, Entertainment & Law Council. I was appointed to the Board of Directors by the co-Presidents for the League of Women Voters, Greater Los Angeles and serve on five committees including the Homelessness Action Committee led by Chair, Dr. Gina Thornburg.
This life of mine, colorful and full of ups and downs, heartbreaks and successes…I wouldn’t change anything about it. Every moment and every experience both good and bad led me to exactly where I needed to be. I thank God for everything.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The road was paved with thorns, ditches, ogres and moments of complete despair that I didn’t think I would overcome. I let myself cry, often but I just didn’t give up and I prayed a lot and just kept my focus on my vision of the future.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.angelsnestTLP.org and www.sexybossbabe.com
- Instagram: @thearzoyusuf @LAangelsnestTLP @thesexybossbabe
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arzo-yusuf-49454054
- Twitter: @arzoyusuf and @angelsnestTLP
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@angelsnesttlp?si=_8Zlhe_4bH3zHj90
