Farideh Sabeti Fathi was born in Sangesar in northern Iran. She attended school and college in Tehran, and graduated from the University of Tehran with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. Farideh went on to attend graduate school in the United States and received her master’s degree in developmental psychology from San Francisco State University.
She taught psychology at the University of Tehran. Several years after the Islamic revolution, she and her family immigrated to the United States, she became a college student again and received her educational specialist degree in school psychology from the University of Central Florida. she has been working as a school psychologist since 1993.
Farideh and her husband, Parviz, live in Florida. Their two children, Dr. Amir Tahmasb Fathi and Azadeh "Azi" Fathi, live and work in Massachusetts.