Hi! I’m Farhan 👋🏽
Thanks for dropping in. Here’s a little bit about me you should know about.
First, some background:
My great grandparents were of Indian descent, but immigrated and settled in East Africa – in Tanzania and Kenya. Then in the early 1970s, when there was unrest in the region, both sides of my family left to come to Canada, along with many other Ismaili Muslims, thanks to the relationship between His Highness the Aga Khan and Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. They have called Canada home ever since.
I was born and raised in Vancouver, and have lived here my whole life.
Today, I…
Have two young kids
Love eating out, trying new food, and cooking
Prefer chai over coffee, though have been loving yerba mate lately
Love travelling to new places
Spin on my Peloton
I’m a diehard Vancouver Canucks fan
As someone who has lived, worked, and breathed content production for most of my adult life, I really try limiting how much I’m reading, watching, and listening on a daily basis. But there are some exceptions.
Some of my favourite podcasts:
Founders by David Senra
My First Million by Shaan Puri and Sam Parr
How To Take Over The World by Ben Wilson
The Strategists by Zain Velji, Stephen Carter, and Corey Hogan
Planet Money by NPR
Decoder by Nilay Patel
Some of my past career highlights:
Overstory | Co-founder, CEO | 2021-2024
Built and acquired 16 community publications across Canada (majority started from scratch)
375,000 opted-in email newsletter subscriptions with average 45% open rate and 11% click rate
4,250+ paid members
Millions of online page views
500-1000+ in person event attendees each month
1 monthly print issue
2 annual food festivals
65 FT staff at peak
Hosted live events with 500-1000+ people with entrepreneurs including Sam Parr, Shaan Puri, Andrew Wilkinson, Jason Fried, and Sahil Bloom
Daily Hive | Editor-in-Chief, Co-owner | 2012-2020
Turned city blog (Vancity Buzz, Vancouver) into national publication in 5 cities across Canada + 2 cities in America
Over 6.5 million unique visitors monthly (from 200,000) and nearly 20 million page views monthly
Editorial team of 20 FT across Canada along with 100+ contributors (total 80+ FT staff across company)
Published 100+ articles daily
Social media channels were the most engaging in Canadian media
Hosted a live debate during Vancouver’s 2018 mayoral election
Interviewed leaders including Justin Trudeau, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, Jagmeet Singh, John Horgan, Brad Smith, Seth Rogen, and more
*Company acquired by ZoomerMedia for $16M
I’ve also worked other jobs, including:
Selling and booking hundreds of thousands of dollars of advertising at The Vancouver Sun and The Province newspapers
Specializing in retail and business sales and product support at one of Apple’s first Canadian stores
Learning retail electronic sales at a neighbourhood London Drugs
My first paid job was in marketing, working on experiential guerrilla marketing campaigns.
And I’ve volunteered my time with local charities, global non-profits, and political organizations.
I’m always looking for ways to add value to organizations and individuals. If you need help growing your brand or business, reach out!