ita Daryabari began her career in engineering at GammaLink. She moved on to a career in telecommunications at MCI Communications where she worked until 1996.Additional endowments have included $2 million for the Shahnama Project at Pembroke College in 2013, a $1.5 million gift to the University of California, Davis in 2015 to broaden its Persian studies program, and $5 million to UC Berkeley in 2016 for the study of Iranian languages, literature, arts, and culture.