Shaheen pursued justice all her life. It's how she's hard-wired. At age 8, she decided to become a lawyer. At UVA Law, she stumbled into a guitar shop with a plastic guitar, a curiosity and some raw talent; her life took a sharp left turn. After graduating law school and passing the California bar, Shaheen turned down the big law firm life. Instead, armed with an album's worth of songs and at the suggestion of her guitar teacher, she embarked on a decade-long pursuit of taking her artistry and transforming it into a music business.
In 2005, Shaheen was called back to the practice of law. She quickly realized she had all the experience of a hustler: the passion, the drive, the heartbreak, the late nights of doubt and the sheer will to make it succeed, and a powerful tool in a law degree to support other entrepreneurs. Esse Law materialized in 2007 as Shaheen’s legal brain child - a law firm propelling others to take their ideas from inception to market success - a one-stop shop to support start-ups and emerging growth companies.
It was the serendipitous call of a friend asking Shaheen to perform at a launch party that landed Esse its first client. Shaheen agreed to sing if the CEO would have coffee with her. The following day, Shaheen met TED Fellow, Shivani Siroya of Tala, to discuss a term sheet for a seed round for her startup. “We were both young, scrappy female entrepreneurs. She slid a term sheet across the table and asked if I could help. Running that deal gave me the startup bug and fused together so many of my loves - entrepreneurship, law, creativity, strategy and sheer hustle."
With over 15 years of experience of serving as general counsel to her clients, with additional specialties in equity and debt financings and corporate compliance, Shaheen has worked with clients in industries spanning from tech, to wine distribution and retail to biopharma/biotech. In 2022, Shaheen became a Venture Fellow for Strawberry Creek Ventures and is on a mission to get more venture capital into the hands of promising women-founded companies.