Formed by a team of young and energetic individuals with various backgrounds and skillsets, Norooz Productions is a pioneer in the field of animation for cosmopolitan children around the world. Founded in 2004, the company's management team consists of Dustin, Shabnam, Aly, and Mastaneh.

With a dedicated team coming from diverse places and cultures, Norooz Productions aims to create quality entertainment for children of multi-cultural families. With education for languages and cultural traditions as a priority, the group believes in making the world a better place, one cartoon character at a time.

After graduating from California State University, Northridge Film School, Dustin Ellis started working under Richard Simmons at Working Dog Productions. There, Dustin was an integral part of an animated series called “Richard’s Angels”. With one project under his belt, Dustin moved to Warner Brothers Feature Animation, where he was part of the “Iron Giant” story department under Brad Bird of “The Incredibles”. Subsequently, Dustin worked on the Universal Cartoons TV Series “The Woody Woodpecker Show” and followed at the movie development department of Nickelodeon Animation Studios. At Nickelodeon, projects included “The Rugrats Movie”, “Jimmy Neutron” and “The Rugrats go to Paris”. After Nickelodeon, Dustin returned to Warner Brothers, to work on the movies, “Osmosis Jones” and “Scooby Doo”. It was his love of cartoons that gave Dustin the idea to start a venture for high quality animations in niche markets. With his wealth of knowledge in the film industry and a great culture to rely upon, Dustin started “Babak and Friends - A First Norooz”.

 

Shabnam brings years of software design, marketing, sales and PR experience to the company. With a BS in Computer Science and a BA in German Literature from the University of Pennsylvania, and an MBA from New York University, Shabnam has spent most of her professional career in selling software solutions to large financial institutions such as Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers, ING and Bank Austria. She has held managerial positions at EXIS Consulting and Deloitte & Touche and is an expert in Capital Markets. She speaks five languages and has been published in numerous industry magazines. In 2004, Shabnam explored her love of culture and languages and started PersianMirror.com, an online community for Persians, that today attracts more than 1.5 million hits per month. Through her web design, editing and marketing experience she was able to attract over 10,000 Iranian businesses to the site in its first 6 months. After she met Dustin on a PersianMirror interview, she decided to team up with him to launch Norooz Productions.

 

 

A seasoned business executive, Aly manages business strategy, operational, and legal matters for Norooz Productions. Aly holds a BA in International Relations from the University of British Columbia and a law degree from the University of California at Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law,. He is a member of the California Bar. After graduating from Law School, Aly spent two years working in the United Nations community for an NGO called Global Action. He then spent 2 years as a management consultant at Bain & Company, and then founded Intra Technologies, a venture backed semiconductor company. Aly ran Intra from 1998 until 2003, when he sold the company to a strategic partner. Aly's passion for business, the education of children, and cultural diversity has has created a unique vision and direction for Norooz Productions.

 

 

Mastaneh Moghadam is an active member of the Persian community and brings with her years of experience in various fields. From an early age, Mastaneh showed an interest in the arts, playing the violin and being featured on Mary Apick’s "Pari dar Jangal". In addition, she was the co-host for a children’s program called “Barnaameye Bachaa-ha” on Jaam-e Jam TV. Mastaneh went on to obtain a BA in Child Development with an emphasis in Music Therapy from California State Universisty at Northridge, and followed with a Masters in Social Work from Califronia State University in Long Beach. She works for the Jewish Family Service where she started a program called Iranian Peer Counseling. A member of the Avaz Dance company for 5 years, Mastaneh is familiar with Persian dance, art and music. Her passion and creative zeal in helping others is an invaluable asset for Norooz Productions.

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