Shima Oliaee is the founder of Shirazad Productions. Her work focuses on the stories of the marginalized, voices forced into silence, often ignored or maligned by the media.

Pink Card, Shirazad’s first independently-produced series, premiered in 2023 at ESPN 30 for 30. The series tells the story of three generations of women fighting to overthrow a dictatorship through soccer. The series received honors from the Overseas Press Club,  a Murrow Award for excellence in writing, an International Sports Press Association Award, a National Headliner Award, two Gracie Awards, and two NY Festival of the Arts Awards.

Oliaee’s follow-up series The Competition debuted in 2024. It follows seven teenagers competing for America's most lucrative scholarship for high school senior girls. The competition was turned on its head when news that Roe v Wade being overturned leaked on the night of semifinals. The show was honored at the Future of Media Awards, won a Signal Award, and The Guardian, Audible, and Mashable named it the best podcast of the year.

Oliaee co-created Dolly Parton’s America, serving as the series sole producer and reporter. She received a Peabody Award and a Murrow Award, along with several national honors. Her independently-produced documentary The Flag and the Fury won a duPont-Columbia Award and Best in Show at the National Headliner Awards. She followed that by creating, producing and reporting The Vanishing of Harry Pace for Radiolab, nominated for Best Audio Documentary by the IDA. In 2018 her series UnErased was named podcast of the year by KQED News.

In 2023 Adweek named Oliaee podcast producer of the year.

Oliaee studied music production and cinema-television at USC, before receiving her graduate degree in psychology. She worked as a teacher, a translator, and in comedy television, including on the Golden Globe-winning Brooklyn Nine-Nine.