Zolal Habibi: Turning Loss into Purpose and the Fight for Freedom

Welcome to the Internal Shift Show. I'm Debbie

Longo, Transformational Coach. This show focuses

on how internal decisions shape direction, progress,

and long -term outcomes. Today's conversation

uses real -world experience to examine how subtle

internal shifts can influence the way people

move forward. I'm joined by a very special guest

today, Zolol. Good afternoon, Zolol. Welcome

to the show. Thank you for having me, and it's

a pleasure to be with you. Please allow me to

greet those who are tuning in to the podcast

today. Thank you. I really appreciate you being

here. I'm going to ask you today to tell your

story and point out a point in your story where

you went through a life change event or a traumatic

experience or something where you went through

a process and then the end result and the end

result should always be positive. Now, I do the

show for a few different reasons. And one main

reason is because everybody has their own individual

story, but there are points to other people's

stories that other people can relate to. OK,

and maybe somebody is stuck in a situation that

they don't know how to get out of. Maybe somebody

just thinks that that situation is normal that

they're in. And they don't realize that if they

get out of it or they change, their life could

be a little better. And sometimes taking a little

step, a baby step, right, is good because then

they could see that maybe that process might

not be as difficult or as detailed as they make

it to be. because sometimes things are a lot

easier than what we we put in our head. And also,

I don't believe this such thing as any negative

situation, because if I don't think it's negative

and I know it can turn into a positive, then

it's not. So it just depends on how I think that

it is. This is what we're trying to do here.

And I hope that the listener can really listen

to really understand what your process is and

try to relate that to their own situation or

scenario. So if you could do that for me, I would

appreciate it. Thank you. Sure. I guess I'll

introduce myself a bit first to be able to get

into that. I'm, as you mentioned, my name is

Zola and I'm a activist with the Iranian resistance.

I've been a member of the Iranian resistance

for almost 26, 27 years now, and I'm a member

of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National

Council of Resistance of Iran. I belong to a

generation that unfortunately I've never actually

had the chance to see Iran. I was born and raised

abroad. My parents came to the U .S. before the

revolution, so I was born in the U .S. and raised

there. But I became acquainted with the situation

in Iran very early on, with the human rights

situation and what people were going through.

And that was always part and parcel of my life.

But I always thought, I mean, I remember meeting

people who were, like, victims of torture when

I was about four, five years old. And I always

thought, like, that's in Iran, and we're here,

so we're fine. It's devastating, but at the end

of the day, we are in a difference, under different

circumstances. And I guess I, in a way, knew

that this isn't something that everyone benefits

from. I realized that from very early on. And

so I guess I didn't take it for granted, the

fact that we were living in a democratic society

and freedom and whatnot. But when I was seven,

things took a turn. When I was seven, the Iranian

regime had my father killed. My father was a

prominent writer and a human rights activist.

And that really transformed everything in my

life. You can imagine having to deal with that

as a seven -year -old. And on the other hand,

it wasn't just my life that was being transformed

because that summer, they made a regime actually

have 30 ,000 political prisoners are executed

in just five, six weeks. And so it made a major

change or shift in all of Iran's society and

also in our history now and the impact that it

has had to this day, it continues. And I remember

at the time I was very attached to my dad, especially

since my dad was a writer. He was at home more

than my mom was usually. And so I was like daddy's

little girl. That was like the connection that

I had. So losing my father was very, very difficult.

And I mean, I think I found out about his death

like two months later. My mom, I guess she was

trying to extend having to tell me this as much

as she could. And but the reality was I actually

ran into a I guess there was a page in a newspaper

with three pictures of my dad and a poem dedicated

to my dad after he had died. And that is how

I found out that my father had been killed. And

but the interesting part was that they had told

me that my dad was on a trip because my dad traveled

a lot because of his work. He would go and give

speeches or take part in conferences or whatnot.

So that was normal to me. But in the dedication

of this poem, it said, a poem dedicated to Zola

and Masiya as they say farewell to their father

who's gone away or traveled or something like

that. And the translation will be. And so I was

like, since when do they write poems when my

dad travels? And so my mom walked in saying that

I'm looking at this page and realized that I

probably figured out what was happening. And

so she just grabbed my hand and we went home

and she told me that, you know, this summer your

father was killed by the regime and a lot of

the people, a lot of people that you actually

knew at one point in time in your life have also

been killed. And she told me like a few of those

cases. And I remember crying for like three hours

straight until we heard the school bus come.

And my brother was three at the time and he was

in, I guess, kindergarten. And he was coming

home. And so my mom was like, so that if he sees

you crying, he's going to know something is wrong.

And you're going to have to just control yourself

a bit. And I remember like running out of the

room, trying to get a hold of myself and just

be able to get things together. And in the mentality

of a seven year old, I started talking to myself,

I was like, you know what, crying is not going

to solve anything. Your dad's not going to come

back if you continue to cry. And there was a

story back then that we used to, like a children's

story that we used to always listen to. It was

the audio cassette back then. And it was the

city without smiles. The story goes, there's

a tyrant who doesn't have a smile. And so what

he does is he takes away people's smiles to see

if it fits his own face. And no, everyone's smile

is unique to them, so none of them match. And

so he's taking away people's smiles. And so that

was like the story. And I thought to myself,

well, your crying is only going to make that

tyrant happy. It's only going to make Khomeini

happy. So as a form of like resistance, I chose

from that moment on never to cry again. And because

I didn't want to give them that satisfaction,

I guess, in my own mentality. It started with

that, to just take a stance and just be defiant

and resist in face of tyranny, no matter what

shape and form it came in. Actually, I didn't

cry for another decade practically, even though

there were a lot of ups and downs along the path.

just unfortunately, two years after I had to

be separated from my mom because of the first

Gulf War. And then just step by step, there are

so many different obstacles in my life, but I

was able to overcome them because of that, I

guess, mentality, but also like how I guess it

just shifted my perception of it. And I think

one of the things that helped me back then was

understanding First of all, understanding the

bigger picture, knowing that I wasn't the only

victim, knowing that I wasn't an exception to

the rule. There are a lot of people who are suffering,

understanding that this is the world that we

live in. This is how dictators are able to implement

their power and to always see myself. Instead

of seeing myself as a victim, seeing myself as

actually one of the lucky ones. I truly saw myself

as one of the lucky ones. Even at the age of

seven, eight years old, I remember always thinking

that whenever people were like, oh, it's so devastating

that you've lost your father. I never had any.

I mean, of course, I missed my dad, but I had

I never had any regrets over the fact that he

had given his life for freedom anyway. I always

held my head up high. to say that, yeah, that

was my dad. He didn't just preach. He didn't

just write to people and give them ambition to

join the fight and continue to fight against

the regime. He actually lived by those words.

And he actually showed in practice that, you

know, there are certain things in life that are

more valuable than, they're much larger also

than life itself. And those are the things that

are worth. making a sacrifice for. And so I think

that my parents always were like the greatest

role models I could ever have, not through their

words, but through their own actions. And so

I think it just put a lot of things into perspective

for me, like a lot of things that may have seemed

trivial for a lot of kids my age, even growing

up, they were in that trivial to me because I

knew that life is much more complex than that.

But I also had met so many people who literally

had a worse case scenario than that. than we

did. As I said, I never had to live under those

circumstances, even though that was like what

the Iranian regime did. But I had friends who,

for instance, they were taken to prison with

their parents at the age of five. They were the

only ones who were walking in the prison hallways

without a blindfold. So they're the actual true

witnesses to the atrocities of the regime. I

had a friend who, unfortunately, she had lost

her father under torture. But as a method of

the torture, the regime would make her watch

her father be tortured to break her father that

way. Because no parent wants to have their children

see something like that. And even though she

had blocked it out of her memory, like when you

spoke to her during the day, but she would actually

have nightmares about it. And when she would

break up like with a fever and everything is

screaming, she only said like, this is what you

had in that room. She's like, no, I don't have

any recollections of that. And I don't even think

that happened. she had locked it out of her memory,

but it was still with her. And so I had seen

that. I had friends who had lost both of their

parents or like the entire family had been executed

by the regime. So that always brought a sense

of, I guess, in comparison. I never saw myself

as like the victim or someone who was just dealt,

I guess, a bad set of cards in life. I always

thought that I was one of the lucky ones. And

I think that really changed my view on things,

but also to always see myself as an agent of

change. Going in from childhood, I would go to

info booths and try to raise awareness on the

situation in Iran. I think I was about 12 the

first time that I went through the halls of Congress

to try to raise awareness and gather signatures

in regards to the supply of people inside of

Iran. So whatever. I came face to face with this

situation, I always thought, well, what is your

responsibility? And what are you going to do

about it? Instead of waiting around and being

like, why is it this way? And why isn't someone

else doing something about it? So that really

helped form who I am, I guess, today. And I mean,

fast forward, I mean, there are a lot of, as

I said, ups and downs along the way. But when

I was after graduating from high school, I came

to across roads again. And that was I had just

graduated. I had gotten full scholarship to go

and study medicine. That was like the goal. But

that summer, general uprisings broke out in Iran.

And that was the first time since the 1980s that

we were seeing uprisings in Iran. And it was

also the first time I was being televised. It

was the start of cable television and CNN and

things back then. And I remember seeing those

scenes and thinking to myself, what is your responsibility?

What are you going to do about it? Are you going

to be just a bystander and just watch from abroad,

like what is being done to our people? Or do

you have a responsibility here too? And especially

because it was people from our generation, like

the generation that was born after the revolution

that were coming to the streets. So that is when

I actually decided to join the Iranian resistance

and then spend. till today. It's been, as I said,

26 something years. And I have been a member

of the resistance ever since. And I think that

was like the best decision that I ever made in

my life. Yeah. So that was excellent, excellent,

excellent. Thank you for that. I really appreciate

that. So there was some things that I was thinking

about when you were speaking. And unfortunately,

sometimes we have to go through traumatic experiences

like you were. talking about in order to see

what path we need to go on or maybe I'm on a

certain path and I see something or I witness

something or I feel something and now I know

that I need to go on a different path. The path

that I'm on is not correct or it's just dead,

basically, because I believe that there are many

different paths that people can go on, that people

are able to go on. Some people think you live

and you die and you're on one path and that's

it. But the thing is that we have the ability

to think for ourselves because we're human beings,

we're not robots. And that enables us to make

decisions, go through changes, pick what path

we want to go on. different things like that.

Now, the other thing that I was thinking of was

that things influence us. Government influences

us in a big way. But not only that, social, those

in our community, our peers, there's a lot of

things that influence us. And they could influence

from the negative or from the positive. It really

depends on what it is. what the person is, what

the situation is. So there's all different examples

of this, but you gave a story of a negative thing

that you saw, that you witnessed, that you heard

about, and you turned that negative thing, those

situations, everything that you spoke about,

and everything that happened that you witnessed

and heard witnessing or whatever, and you turned

those things into a positive, right, by joining

the resistance and getting people to sign things.

And when we do that, not only do we turn the

negative situation, whatever, into a positive,

but I can't change Iran and any other country

from killing people, from changing their government.

But I can make a difference in the way that I

know how in the situation that I'm in, in the

country that I'm in. What happens then? That

might help one or two people. That might help

somebody that their parents are there, like the

several experiences that you had thought about.

Maybe that might change their attitude or their

thinking. So we do things in a positive way that

we don't really know who we're helping, who we're

changing, and what the outcome is going to be.

I'm just knowing that I could take that negative

situation, that life change or whatever it is,

and if I turn it into a positive, I know that

good things will happen. And I don't know what

those things are. And that's really, to me, what

my purpose is in life. Now, that's me. because

I'm a coach and I'm not here to promote myself.

But the point is that this is what I do. One

of the things that I do and one of the things

that I teach people, because do I have a purpose

in life? Is this part of my journey? What? What

am I doing to change? What am I doing to change

my life? What am I doing to get out of these

negative instances, circumstances, different

things like that? Is this the way that I want

to be? Do I want to hear all this stuff that

happens in Iran and then feel sorry for people

and then cry at night and that's the end of it?

And sit in sick and suffering or whatever? Or

do I want to do something to help those people

to change? And I don't know what that's going

to be. I just don't know. I'm not a psychic.

And even a psychic wouldn't know because they

don't know everything. Nobody knows everything.

But I know that if I'm doing something positive

and a lot of groups and stuff do it this way,

they don't know what's going to happen. They

know that their mission is to put one step forward

and then another step forward and another step.

And that will inadvertently help. Hopefully a

lot of people, but if I'm helping one person,

that's a win. That's really the bottom line.

But of course I want to help a lot of people.

That's just the type of person that I am. But

things like this also, the resistance and all

these different things that we're talking about

here, that multiplies. Because why? Because something

that I do that's positive is always going to

multiply because I want to bring positive people

into it. So I'm going to meet people. some way,

maybe on the internet or create a group. And

that is going to bring people who are interested

in that also. And now I'm multiplying. I might

have a group or I might join a group that has

we're just talking about group because this is

what we're talking about here. This is just one

example that has maybe five people, 10 people.

And then before I know it, there's like 100 people

in this group just from like talking or talking

to people that I know or associating with people

in another country, whatever it is that I'm doing.

And when things happen like that, you're going

to wind up helping a lot of people. And that's

just like that's just the way that it is. That's

just like a statistic, basically. So my question

is that your process from when you were seven

and you found out about your father and all the

things that he was doing and Up until that, between

that and when he died, what was that process

like for you? What was your thinking and your

feeling during that whole process that we just

discussed about? Like, do you mean from like

my childhood until when I was seven and he died?

Yes. Well, I mean, I always took pride in the

fact that in my parents, my parents, I guess

they had a very unique way of raising us in a

way. They would... even when I was like two,

instead of telling me what's right and wrong,

they would explain everything to me and then

they would tell me to choose. They would be like,

what do you think? What do you think is right?

What do you think is wrong? So they had, I guess

that also makes you grow up really fast, like

understanding what is going on. They don't treat

you like a child. They treat you like an adult.

And so I think I had a greater understanding

than most people like my age at that time even.

And as I mentioned, because of the things that

I was coming across, as I said, I have vivid

memories of a two -week period that people, a

group of people who were victims of torture,

people who were political prisoners who had escaped

Iran, they came and they stayed at our house

because they were going to the U .S. Congress

and to the United Nations in New York to testify

about what they had suffered. Of course, everyone

was trying to shield me from hearing about these

things or knowing these things. But as a child,

you're very intrigued by meeting new people and

hearing their stories. And so I kept on pursuing

them. I was like, you guys have to tell me your

stories. And they wouldn't. And there was one

of them that I had recognized because I had seen

posters of how his feet had been tortured and

everything and indifferent. events or in back

then in the protest or in exhibits and things

and I was in Iraq and I was like, you're that

guy. I know your story. I know that your feet

are like completely black from torture. And I

know all of this. And so I personally forced

him to tell me his story. Of course, he told

me like the rated G version of the stories for

it to be okay for a child. But I remember him

telling me how he escaped prison. And also that

he had he told me that from day one that they

were with us, that he has a daughter one year

older than me, who was in Iran at the time. And

I think that just these, meeting these people,

coming across these people, having that opportunity

to have these discussions with so many different

people, it really shaped, I guess, who I was.

And so that's, I think that's one of the reasons

that I was able to cope with the loss of my father

the way that I did, because I had all of this

process behind me and I had talked a lot with

my parents about these things and what was going

on. And having that understanding really helped

in being able to cope. So I think awareness is

always something that really does help in how

you're able to overcome different issues. So

I think that played a major factor. And also

the fact that, as I said, I was always home with

my dad. most of the time. So I, I cherish every

second of that. And I try to keep those memories

alive in my, and never to forget them. And here

again, I saw myself as the lucky one because

unfortunately my brother was only three at the

time. So he has no recollection of our parents

and how it was and things, but I do. And so that

was really important to me. And then as I started

growing up, I made a It was important for me

to actually go and read like my father's books

or the articles that he wrote or listen to some

of the interviews that he had done to be able

to have a better understanding of who he was,

what he stood for, and to be able to continue

that path. And I remember my father, I mean,

when he was killed, it was about a few weeks

before his 36th birthday. And I remember like

throughout these years, a lot of times I thought

of that. Right now, I have outlived my father,

but thinking about how he was able to accomplish

so much in those years, to this day, I still

get approached sometimes, like at a rally or

here and there, all around the world, both in

Europe and in the US by people who, when they

realize I am my dad's daughter, they come and

impress me and they're like the impact your father

made on our lives with you know his understanding

or how he explained things or like his this book

or that book or whatnot and when i see that but

this is 37 years later but people's lives are

still impacted by my father and by what he did

and that always reminds me that you can make

such a you could leave a great impact or imprint

in society. What's important is how you use your

time in this world and how much you try to give

to others, because that's all that will remain

at the end of the day. Yes, agreed. And that

was excellent. Thank you very much. I appreciate

that. So the last question is, how do you feel

today? How do you feel this minute based on this

whole podcast, everything that we discussed and

your story and everything that you just told?

How do you feel? Well, right now, in general,

it's a very critical time for our people today.

I mean, since February 28th, a war has started

in Iran. But from the start of 2026, we have

seen the uprising in Iran and the thousands of

people who were killed by the regime and everything

that has happened. Unfortunately, in the last

week, we have witnessed six political prisoners,

four of the detainees from the protests being

executed in Iran and all for just standing for

freedom. for just standing to be able to give

that to the people of Iran. And among them, you

see people as young as 18, 19 years old who were

executed and people in their late 60s who were

executed. So this fight for freedom continues

on a daily basis and the people of Iran are paying

the price for it. Our message to that, I think

more than ever, I see the fall of this regime

nearing, but The reality is that the solution

to Iran is neither war nor appeasement. It's

to support the people of Iran to bring about

change. And I think our people have that capability

and that potential to bring about that change

because the people who have paid such a grave

price already, 120 ,000 people have been executed

in Iran for standing for freedom, for supporting

the People's Majority Organization of Iran for

standing for democracy in Iran and wanting a

secular democratic republic to be able to form

in Iran. So after a century of dictatorships

under the Shah and under the Mullahs. So I think

that more than ever before, we are nearing that

point, but that change has to come from the people

of Iran. So I hope that we could bring that change

as soon as possible so no other child has to

suffer the way that we did. No other child has

to witness their father or mother being executed.

Unfortunately, one of the people who was executed

last week, his wife is pregnant right now and

the regime didn't even allow him to ever see

his child, unborn child. He was arrested during

the protest in Iran and he was 32 years old.

He was arrested in January and executed this

week. So that is the brutality that the people

of Iran are facing on a daily basis. But on the

other hand, there's a lot of trouble. there's

a lot of determination to bring about change.

And we have a saying in pricing, we say, no one's

going to scratch your back except your own finger.

So that change has to come from the people of

Iran. This democracies can't be installed. It

has to come from the people of Iran. And we hope

that we will be able to see that the dawn of

freedom soon in Iran. Yeah, excellent. Thank

you for being on the show. I really appreciate

it. That was a really good way to close and I

just want to reiterate like we were talking about

before is that there are influences in our lives

outside influences But we don't have to let those

things Affect us in a negative way and we don't

have to sit in suffering and complaining and

suffering through the losses and everything because

that's just going to make me more negative. I

want to do something positive to help people.

whether it's my own ethnicity or maybe somebody

in people in my society, whatever it is, I want

to do something positive and that will inadvertently

help people. That's just for the positive way.

That's just how it works. That's just how the

world works, how the human beings work. And this

was a very, very excellent example of this because

this is exactly what you did. One of the things

that you were talking about, there was a few

different things here that we were pointing out

during the podcast, but this is really what stands

out to me and this is a lot more common than

what people think. Because it's easy to sit in

suffering and it's easy to sit in negativity

and just do nothing and complain. But it's a

lot to do something about it to help people.

And the rewards I get for that are just amazing.

They always are. So thank you for that. I appreciate

it. What stands out from this conversation is

that meaningful change is built through consistent

internal decisions, not dramatic moments. If

something resonated with you, consider where

those internal decisions are already shaping

your path. This has been the Internal Shift Show.

Thank you for listening and thank you, Zolal,

for being on the show. I really appreciate it.

Thanks for having me. It's been a pleasure.