Shermin Nahid Kruse, born in Tehran, Iran, is a Northwestern Pritzker School of Law professor, TED talk producer, consultant, and thought leader with a long history of civic engagement. She’s also a lawyer, a law professor at a top-ten law school, a critically acclaimed novelist and slam poet, a refugee and civil rights advocate with multiple “woman of the year” humanitarian awards, and a mother of four.
Shermin has produced nearly 50 TEDx talks in the last two years, some which were picked up by TED global and went viral. Sher produces TEDx talks through a Chicago-area TEDx franchise called “TEDxWrigleyville,” which she founded and leads as the executive producer. Her role involves overseeing her team in the curation of all speakers, idea development, script drafting/approval, body language rehearsals, filming, and editing of the talks. She has also given her own TEDx talk, entitled “How to Change the World.”
Shermin is a professor at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, teaching “Cross-Border Transactions,” “Tactical Empathy,” and “Law and Leadership.”
In addition, she is the founder and CEO of My Reality Cubed, providing organizational and management consulting and stoic tactical empathy training to corporations and their c-suite executives.
Prior to that, she was a partner at the law firm of Barack Ferrazzano where she represented international and Fortune 500 companies for 17 years.
Shermin is a frequent speaker and author on issues relating to various laws and policies, global transactions, operational management, diversity and inclusion, complex negotiation, international relations, non-profit management, as well as civil and human rights. She also penned the critically acclaimed, best-selling novel Butterfly Stitching, based on the stories of the women of her family, before and after the Iranian revolution. She is currently authoring a textbook on global transactions issues, to be published by Northwestern Library in 2022. In addition, she is a frequent columnist and commentator for a variety of international magazines, including WomanScape, Fete Lifestyle Magazine, and the Huffington Post.
Shermin was recently named as the 2018 Woman Extraordinaire by the International Women Associates, featured by various global publications for her humanitarian work. She was named one of the nation’s top 100 “Women to Watch” by BizWomen Magazine, one of Chicago’s most influential women by Chicago Business Journal, and one of Chicago’s Women of Inspiration by Today’s Chicago Magazine.
Dedicated to her local and global community, Shermin serves as director of the international refugee center RefuSHE, chair of the Advisory Board of the arts organization Innovation80, a founding member of the Chicago Council for the American Writers Museum, and a founder of the international NGO Pasfarda Arts and Culture Exchange. She also served as a director of the ACLU of Illinois for many years.
Shermin’s educational alumni institutions include the University of Michigan Law School (J.D., cum laude), The University of Toronto (BSc, honors dual degree in Psychology and Philosophy), Northwestern University School of Professional Development (negotiation certification), and The Chicago Council on Global Affairs (fully funded Emerging Leader Fellowship).
Shermin lives in Chicago with her husband and their four children, ages 5 to 10. When she is not busy with her family, work, or community service, she loves to paint, travel, take photographs, and is an avid kickboxer.