Forcing her Peugeot through the streets of Tehran at 80 kilometers an hour in a 30-kph zone, Laleh Seddigh — 28, indefatigable, and beautiful — is quite literally racing her way to the top of Iran’s car-racing community. Seddigh has been notching a number of firsts: She is the first woman since the Islamic Revolution occurred, in 1979, to compete against her male counterparts in any athletic competition; she is the first Iranian woman to compete against men in car racing; and she was first to cross the finish line during Iran’s national racing championship, which was held in March of this year. Lest her detractors think that she has traded brawn for brains, she has already received her BA and MA from Tehran University, and she is currently working towards her doctorate in industrial management and production.

As one of the 70 percent of Iranians younger than 35, she has a bold confidence and a message that may well be a function of her youthful vitality: “In this society, women don’t believe in themselves … They have to believe in their inside power.”

Mimi Hanaoka