Shouan was born on May 30, 1986 in Danbury, Connecticut. He is the child of refugees from the Islamic Republic of Iran and a first-generation American.

After graduating from high school, Shouan studied economics at Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts. After college, Shouan attended New York University School of Law ("NYU"), where he focused on issues related to economic justice, civil rights, immigrant rights, and racial justice. During his time at NYU, Shouan was privileged to work with the Immigrant Rights Clinic, where he represented individuals in removal proceedings before the New York City immigration court.

After law school, Shouan moved to Central America where he spent approximately one year traveling through the Northern Triangle. Immediately thereafter, Shouan began working at Central American Legal Assistance ("CALA") in Brooklyn, NY where he spent the next several years representing Central and South American asylum seekers in removal proceedings before the New York City immigration court. In late 2017, Shouan moved on from CALA and began working as the legal director of Services, Immigrant Rights, and Education Network ("SIREN") in San Jose, California. At SIREN, Shouan spent the next few years creating and developing the organization's removal defense program, which would soon become one of the most active in the San Jose metro area. In 2021, Shouan moved on from SIREN and began working at La Raza Community Resource Center in San Francisco, California. In tandem with that move, Shouan established his own immigration law practice, Yara Legal Services, where he provides low bono immigration legal services to immigrants and refugees before EOIR, the BIA, USCIS, and the various circuit courts of appeal. In 2023, Shouan moved on from LRCRC to manage the immigration practice at Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto ("CLSEPA"). After a year at CLSEPA, Shouan joined the staff at PANGEA.

Shouan currently lives in the East Bay with his partner and two young children. Shouan speaks English, Spanish, and Farsi fluently and is a member of the New York State Bar.