# Sima Sistani

> Sima Sistani is an American entrepreneur, Houseparty co-founder and former CEO, and founder of Liberation of Flowers. Her career spans Goldman Sachs, Creative Artists Agency, Yahoo, Tumblr, Epic Games and WW International. She serves on Best Buy’s board and teaches the Women’s Leadership Lab at Duke University.

- **Role:** Founder at Liberation of Flowers; adjunct professor at Duke University; board director at Best Buy
- **Organizations:** Liberation of Flowers, Duke University, Best Buy, Houseparty, Epic Games, WW International, Tumblr, Yahoo, Creative Artists Agency, Goldman Sachs, Aspen Institute
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** BA, Sociology, Duke University, MBA, Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management
- **Known for:** Co-founded Houseparty and led it as CEO through its 2019 acquisition by Epic Games., Led social gameplay and feature development at Epic Games, including Fortnite., Selected for the Aspen Institute’s 2023 Henry Crown Fellowship class.

## Career timeline

- **2001** — Graduated from Duke University.
- **Early career** — Worked in international equities at Goldman Sachs in Chicago and film finance at Creative Artists Agency.
- **2011-2015** — Worked at Yahoo, leading mobile growth, and became Tumblr’s first head of media following its acquisition.
- **2015** — Joined the Meerkat team and co-founded Houseparty.
- **2016** — Houseparty launched as a private group video-chat app.
- **2019-03** — Became Houseparty CEO, succeeding Ben Rubin.
- **2019-06** — Houseparty announced its acquisition by Epic Games.
- **2020** — Led Houseparty during a reported 50 million new sign-ups in 30 days.
- **2021-10** — Houseparty closed; Sistani continued social-product leadership at Epic.
- **2022-03 to 2024-09** — Served as CEO of WW International.
- **2023-03** — Joined Best Buy’s board and was named an Aspen Institute Henry Crown Fellow.
- **2025** — Began teaching at Duke University as an adjunct professor.
- **2026** — Launched Liberation of Flowers.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Houseparty and led it as CEO through its 2019 acquisition by Epic Games.
- Led social gameplay and feature development at Epic Games, including Fortnite.
- Selected for the Aspen Institute’s 2023 Henry Crown Fellowship class.
- Independent Best Buy director since March 2023.
- Developed and teaches Duke’s Women’s Leadership Lab.
- Launched a fragrance collection with perfumer Christophe Laudamiel and artist Ashley Longshore in 2026.

## Latest updates

- **2026-10** — An October 13 interview describes Liberation of Flowers as self-funded and focused on direct sales and selected boutiques.
- **2026-07** — Published an essay about spending time and attention on friends, personal rituals and handwritten notes.
- **2026-02** — Discussed career conviction, relationships and her Women’s Leadership Lab on the In Sync podcast.
- **2025-09** — Described her portfolio career, Duke teaching and support for women founders in a WIE Suite interview.

## Links

- Website: https://about.me/simasistani
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simasistani
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/SimaSistani
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sima/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/sima-sistani
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-23