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Craving change in the area
Glendale News Press
LATimes.com
Nov 27 2004
Alina Azizian takes over as executive director of local Armenian
National Committee chapter.
By Josh Kleinbaum, News-Press and Leader
GLENDALE - Alina Azizian can trace her activism back to a craving
for karmeer pilar, an Armenian dish with rice pilaf and tomatoes.
Azizian remembers sitting with her best friend, a neighbor from
Nicaragua, at UC Berkeley in 2002. Azizian had just transferred from
Glendale Community College, and both were getting homesick. They
started talking about their native food, and Azizian wanted the
traditional Armenian rice dish.
"I suddenly wanted an Armenian person to say, 'Oh my god, I miss it,'
" Azizian said.
After growing up in Glendale, Azizian was accustomed to being
surrounded by Armenian-Americans. Suddenly, she had to seek them out,
so she joined the Armenian Student Assn., a campus Armenian activist
group.
Two years later, with experience as a political activist in college
and the real world, Azizian is taking over the Armenian National
Committee's Glendale Chapter. The organization named her executive
director this week, making her the chapter's first paid employee.
"She's definitely from the community, so she knows the community
very well," said Pierre Chraghchian, chairman of the chapter's board
of directors. "She's going to be doing everything from helping
and organizing more events to participating in certain meetings,
attending City Council meetings, school board meetings and college
board meetings."
Azizian will be running the day-to-day operation of the chapter.
She's going to focus on improving communication between the Armenian
and non-Armenian community in Glendale, and increasing voter education
and turnout within the Armenian American community.
She's gotten plenty of experience over the past two years. She served
as co-president of Berkeley's Armenian Student Assn. and became
involved in the committee's San Francisco chapter. She spent a summer
working for the committee's Washington D.C. headquarters. Before
November's election, she worked as the Democratic campaign manager
for San Mateo county, assisting campaigns at every level, from local
City Council races to the presidential race.
"When I was in my teens, being involved was always in the back of my
mind, but I was kind of apathetic, like most teens," Azizian said.
"It took a while to get over that apathy. Now, I feel like I'm trying
to make up for lost time."
Glendale News Press
LATimes.com
Nov 27 2004
Alina Azizian takes over as executive director of local Armenian
National Committee chapter.
By Josh Kleinbaum, News-Press and Leader
GLENDALE - Alina Azizian can trace her activism back to a craving
for karmeer pilar, an Armenian dish with rice pilaf and tomatoes.
Azizian remembers sitting with her best friend, a neighbor from
Nicaragua, at UC Berkeley in 2002. Azizian had just transferred from
Glendale Community College, and both were getting homesick. They
started talking about their native food, and Azizian wanted the
traditional Armenian rice dish.
"I suddenly wanted an Armenian person to say, 'Oh my god, I miss it,'
" Azizian said.
After growing up in Glendale, Azizian was accustomed to being
surrounded by Armenian-Americans. Suddenly, she had to seek them out,
so she joined the Armenian Student Assn., a campus Armenian activist
group.
Two years later, with experience as a political activist in college
and the real world, Azizian is taking over the Armenian National
Committee's Glendale Chapter. The organization named her executive
director this week, making her the chapter's first paid employee.
"She's definitely from the community, so she knows the community
very well," said Pierre Chraghchian, chairman of the chapter's board
of directors. "She's going to be doing everything from helping
and organizing more events to participating in certain meetings,
attending City Council meetings, school board meetings and college
board meetings."
Azizian will be running the day-to-day operation of the chapter.
She's going to focus on improving communication between the Armenian
and non-Armenian community in Glendale, and increasing voter education
and turnout within the Armenian American community.
She's gotten plenty of experience over the past two years. She served
as co-president of Berkeley's Armenian Student Assn. and became
involved in the committee's San Francisco chapter. She spent a summer
working for the committee's Washington D.C. headquarters. Before
November's election, she worked as the Democratic campaign manager
for San Mateo county, assisting campaigns at every level, from local
City Council races to the presidential race.
"When I was in my teens, being involved was always in the back of my
mind, but I was kind of apathetic, like most teens," Azizian said.
"It took a while to get over that apathy. Now, I feel like I'm trying
to make up for lost time."