“I didn’t know what to do. And I still don’t.”

That might not sound like the most inspiring start to a story, but for Parsa Bahreini, it’s the most honest way to describe how he got here. Now working in HR for a company in Dubai, the 24-year-old Iranian has lived in three countries, pursued a degree in psychology, founded an indie music label, and taken on roles from creative producer to HR consultant, all without ever following a fixed plan.

Instead, Parsa’s life has been shaped by gut instinct and a willingness to keep trying. “It’s always been about figuring out what makes sense at the moment. You just go with it, see what doors it opens up, and go from there.”

Early Experiments in Creation

By the time most teenagers were figuring out what subjects they liked in school, Parsa Bahreini was already deep into his own self-directed education. At just 13, he began teaching himself how to code, design websites, and use creative tools like Photoshop and Logic Pro. For the next few years, he bounced between side projects and freelance gigs, trying his hand at anything that sparked his curiosity.

It was around this time, while helping a relative translate a corporate anthem into Farsi, that Parsa stumbled into songwriting. A phone call with a local lyricist left a strong impression. “He was so passionate about music and lyrics,” Parsa recalled. “Something about that call just lit something up in me.”

Soon after, he recorded his first track with a producer named Saeed Karsa. The two stayed in touch for years, eventually forming the creative partnership that would later lead to the founding of Elanvital, an independent music label built on fairness, collaboration, and accessibility. But at the time, Parsa was just following what felt right.

“I didn’t know where it would go,” he says. “I just knew I wanted to keep making things.”

A New Chapter in Malaysia

Parsa moved to Malaysia when he was 16. His parents had decided it was time for a change, both for practical reasons and long-term visa security, and Malaysia was one of the few countries that offered relative stability and accessibility for Iranian citizens. For Parsa, the shift was more than logistical. It meant leaving behind the entrepreneurial routines he had built for himself back home: a cycle of web development, coding projects, and small creative ventures. When he arrived in Kuala Lumpur, everything paused.

“I wasn’t freelancing anymore. I wasn’t making websites. I wasn’t making music,” he said. “It was just school.”

He enrolled first at Sayfol International School, a private secondary school in Ampang known for its high volume of international students. The adjustment period was awkward at times, but not unfamiliar. Having moved homes frequently, even within Iran, Parsa was no stranger to the discomfort of starting over. But it wasn’t until he graduated from Sayfol and began the Canadian International Matriculation Programme (CIMP) at Sunway College that things started to shift.

Rediscovering Creativity with CIMP

Unlike traditional pre-university programmes, CIMP encouraged expression, experimentation, and a strong sense of agency. Parsa enrolled in drama and music in his final semester at Sunway College, and the two classes would leave a lasting mark on him. In drama, he found himself in an ensemble that demanded vulnerability and trust. He acted in scenes, collaborated on skits, and stepped outside himself in a way no other subject had required him to do. Music class provided him with a more technical outlet, one where songwriting and production began to take shape in tangible terms.

“It was the first time I felt like the people around me weren’t just chasing a degree. They were doing things. They had ideas.”

It was also during this time that he contacted Kasra, the music producer he had worked with in Iran. They had stayed in touch sporadically, but the energy of CIMP reignited something. Parsa was surrounded by peers with potential, many of whom had no idea how to take their first steps into the music world. 

He and Kasra began talking seriously about creating a platform that could help people like them get their work out into the world—a label.

Elanvital: A Home for Honest Sound

That blueprint became reality soon after. Together with Kasra, Parsa co-founded Elanvital, an independent record label founded on one belief: that good music deserves a fair platform, regardless of the budget or the artist's level of experience.

“There were so many great musicians around, but no one was really doing it professionally,” he said. “We thought, why not create something of our own?”

Most of the artists they worked with came from the Sunway community: new voices who were serious about their craft but unsure how to begin. Elanvital provided them with a platform to record, release, and refine their sound. It was self-funded, rough around the edges, but built with heart. The focus was always on the art, never the algorithm.

As time went on and the team scattered across different countries, the label was put on hold. But Parsa still sees it as unfinished business. “We still talk about bringing it back,” he said. “Just waiting for the right moment.”

A Turn Towards Psychology

Psychology wasn’t part of some long-held plan; it just felt right. After completing his pre-university studies, Parsa searched for a field to pursue his degree in that could hold his attention. One evening, while watching the Netflix series Mindhunter with a friend, something clicked. “That show got me thinking,” he said. “You know what? I’ll do psychology!”

He enrolled at Sunway University in 2020, just as the pandemic disrupted traditional campus life. Lectures moved online, student life disappeared, and he, like many others, found himself learning alone from behind a screen. “I hadn’t even properly started uni, and suddenly everything was remote,” he recalled. But rather than deterring him, the material pulled him in. Topics like abnormal psychology, cognitive science, and personality theory opened up a world that felt both relevant and deeply human.

Although the isolation of lockdowns made it difficult to form new connections, Parsa appreciated the intellectual freedom that came with studying at his own pace. “Psychology is one of those degrees where you can really explore what interests you,” he said. 

A New Chapter in Rotterdam

After completing his psychology degree at Sunway, Parsa moved to the Netherlands to reunite with family (who had moved there during his degree) and explore postgraduate options. He had initially planned to continue with psychology, but the language barrier made it impossible, as Dutch fluency was required for clinical placements. Instead, he pursued a master’s in People, Organisations and Change (Human Resource Management) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.

The application didn’t go smoothly. Erasmus initially rejected him due to his Malaysian degree, but he pushed back, supplying detailed course materials with help from Sunway’s faculty. “Stubbornness works sometimes,” he said.

Once in Rotterdam, adjusting to the culture took time. Orientation week, though pricey, helped him form early friendships that carried over into his course. Erasmus’s program, titled People, Organisations and Change, blended theory with real-world experience, including a consultancy project for Stanley Black & Decker. Still, he noted, “People glamorise these institutions. But intelligence is everywhere.”

The degree proved valuable sooner than expected. Through a connection made in Dubai, Parsa was invited to assist with a new startup. What began as an informal project soon became a full-time role.

Since January, Parsa has been working remotely in a dynamic HR role that sees him taking on far more responsibility than a fresh graduate typically would. From interviewing over a hundred senior-level professionals to drafting job descriptions, conducting policy audits, and enhancing employee training, his day-to-day responsibilities are packed with high-stakes decision-making. “I’m doing much more than I would be doing with my experience and my degree,” he said. “It’s a start-up, so I wear a lot of hats.”

His plan is to move to Dubai soon, where the company is based, though he still intends to keep one foot in Europe. The job may not have come through conventional means, but for someone like Parsa, conventional never really held much appeal anyway.

“I’m doing way more than I would elsewhere with my experience,” he said. Although his heart is still drawn to creative work, he views this role as a crucial step. “All of it, Sunway, Erasmus, even the record label stuff, helped me get here.”

Looking Back, Moving Forward

Parsa has never been one to follow a rigid plan. “At a lot of points, I didn’t know what I was doing, and I still don’t!” he said. His journey, from Iran to Malaysia to the Netherlands, has been defined less by certainty and more by instinct, curiosity, and a willingness to pivot.

As for the future, he’s still exploring. The long-term dream is to run a small, creative company with close friends—music, film, or whatever feels genuine. Not necessarily to chase millions, but to make something that feels like his.

“Just try something,” he said. “And believe that something will come. It might not be what you expected, but it’ll be something.”