Meet Mandana Dayani, ex-boss of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Archewell: the Iranian-American entrepreneur helped them get Netflix and Spotify deals, and runs a podcast with actress Debra Messing

May 27 , 2024

Businesswoman and lawyer Mandana Dayani, former president of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Archewell. Photo: @mandanadayani/Instagram

No stranger to Hollywood, the lawyer-turned-businesswoman has dabbled in fashion and entertainment ventures, and was a producer on The Rachel Zoe Project

Dayani and actress Debra Messing’s The Dissenters podcast, focusing on social issues, has featured celebrities like Hillary Clinton, Jane Fonda and Sophia Bush

Since their separation from the British royal family, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, have been aligning themselves with some of America’s most influential and famous people.

Between the now infamous televised sit-down interview with Oprah Winfrey and the Netflix special documenting their history-making move from the UK to Montecito, California, the pair has gained and lost friends along the way.

Reports of the couple no longer getting invited to the hottest parties and gatherings in Hollywood sparked controversy over their popularity – public support for the two seems to have dwindled in America.

Mandana Dayani and the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle. Photo: @mandanadayani/Instagram

One person who has parted ways with the couple is Iranian-American businesswoman and lawyer Mandana Dayani, 42, who was the president of Archewell, a company founded by Harry and Markle. She left her post in 2023 to engage in other opportunities.

Dayani is no newbie to the Hollywood scene. She’s dabbled in various fashion and entertainment ventures and was a producer on The Rachel Zoe Project, a show that centres on the celebrity stylist. Dayani and Zoe’s relationship dates back to well over a decade ago when the lawyer made the pivot from law to become a talent agent. After representing Zoe, Dayani joined the stylist’s company, Rachel Zoe Inc., as head of the operation.

After parting ways with Rachel Zoe, Dayani turned her focus to the tech sector, assuming a management role at Everything But the House, an online platform for estate sales. That ultimately led her to produce a show based on the online marketplace for HGTV.

Mandana Dayani played an important part in wrapping Netflix and Spotify deals for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Photo: @mandanadayani/Instagram

As the president of Archewell, she played an instrumental role in forging deals with Netflix and Spotify for Harry and Markle.

She became an anti-Semitism activist and turned to her experience as a religious refugee from Iran to bring to light issues surrounding racism and religious prosecutions.