Haideh Herbert-Aynehchi was born and raised in Tehran. While in high school, she participated in an exchange student program in the US, and received her high school diploma from Great Valley High School in Pennsylvania. In Tehran she achieved a BS in psychology and an MA in English Language and Literature from Tehran University. She taught English for twenty years mostly at Tehran University Language Center as an instructor, teacher trainer, and program coordinator. She also served as member of Planning Board, supervisor of children’s classes and Adult ESL teacher at Iran Language Institute (Formerly Iran-America.

When leaving Iran, with assistance from Joint Distribution Committee she developed English classes for transmigrants waiting for American visas in Vienna, as well as teaching for Intergovernmental Committee for Migration.

In Los Angeles, she taught English and mentored new teachers for LAUSD, and Refugee Employment Training Project. She served as an adjunct faculty teaching Persian at Santa Monica College.

Experiencing difficulties with her vocal cords, Haideh changed gears, received a second master’s degree in counseling with an emphasis on vocational rehabilitation from CSULA. She served as a vocational evaluator and supervisor at JVS, and as a Qualified Senior Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor at California State Department of Rehabilitation. In this capacity, she conducted vocational evaluations and career counseling for clients with disabilities, veterans and clients with history of substance abuse and others with different barriers to employment.

In retirement, she is an executive board member and co-chair of the Emergency Fund at Iranian American Jewish Federation, IAJF, and serves as a member of advisory board at the Jewish Language Project. In this capacity she conducts interviews with speakers of endangered Judeo-Persian languages.

Haideh is an author, and co-authored English for Technology: Dominie Press, 1999, and English for Students of Economics and Business Administration, Tehran University Press, Tehran, Iran, 1982.

She is currently in contact with literary agents to publish her memoir, NEITHER THE HEAD NOR THE TAIL OF THE ONION, about Jewish life in Iran before and after the Islamic Republic. Several of stories in this book have been published. Her short stories, Glen Ivy Hot Springs, Revolutionary Training for Kids, Char Mezrab and It Could Have Been Me have been selected and performed by The Braid (formerly Jewish Women’s Theatre). She has published two stories The Champagne Rocket and It Could Have Been Me on the digital platform of Medium. Her short story Are Girls Bad was selected as a finalist by Wow! Women Writers’ Magazine.