Meet Rochie
Our Founder Story
Meet Rochie
Rochanak "Rochie" Saberzadeh was Roya's sister, co-founder, and the brilliant young woman whose idea began the business that is now Rochie's Originals.
The vision that started Rochie's
Rochie was a student when she thought of starting a business that would help students show their school pride and fashion taste in customized, personalized and unique ways to showcase their identity.
At 19, while she was a full-time CSUN student in her sophomore year and part of the Greek system, Rochie saw something that could be better. She wanted the Greek community at her university to be more visible, with access to custom made, original quality products that helped students express who they were.
In 1989, that was a novel idea. Only a handful of companies served fraternities and sororities on the whole West Coast, mostly by mail order catalog.
Greek Row began with her idea
On June 15, 1989, three days short of Rochie's 20th birthday, Rochie and Roya opened the business together as Greek Row.
Rochie was the brilliant idea and the visionary behind the business. Roya believed in that vision and helped Rochie from day one to realize it. Their mom and dad stood behind them every step of the way.
Rochie created and introduced numerous new designs and ideas with mass appeal. One idea, "Freely express your unique individuality," became a huge hit. Before the internet, the business grew by word of mouth, and Greeks traveled from everywhere to visit her store. Within two years, Rochie had to move to a bigger location.
Her name stayed with the business
Rochie died at 22 in a scuba diving class. In 1991, the business was renamed in her honor: Rochie's Greek Row. The name that matters, "Rochie's," has stayed ever since. Today, it is Rochie's Originals.
Her vision still lives in the way we work. Every piece begins with someone's story. Every design is meant to help a student, graduate, family or Greek member wear something personal now and remember it for a lifetime.
How her legacy continued
In Rochie's honor, immediately after her passing, we created hands-on group product design workshops, the CSUN internship partnership program for student interns, the satin stitch upgrade from the zigzag stitch, and the Rochanak Saberzadeh Scholarship Foundation at CSUN, funded in part by store proceeds. That was only the beginning. We kept creating new products, solutions, and processes to serve our clients better, most notably the first custom graduation sash, which we created in 1993 in honor of our mom, Soraya, and later our patented 3D multi-layer appliquΓ©.
Rochie's story is why this studio has always been about more than products. It has always been about identity, memory, pride, and the joy of seeing your story become something you can hold onto.
Memorial pamphlet archive
Below is the memorial pamphlet created after Rochie's passing, shared as part of her story so you can see more of her life through family photos, school memories and tributes from that time. Some donation and contact details in the original pages are historical and are not current.
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