LOS ANGELES, CA – Former war orphan, Anna Ouroumian, now Academy of Business Leadership Refounder, President & CEO and educator, will be recognized as one of Lebanon’s “Women Pioneers” selected by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants during the 3rd Annual Lebanese Diaspora Energy (LDE) Conference to be held in Beirut from May 5th through the 7th. LDE showcases the success stories of Lebanese residents and expatriates from around the world, and covers areas like the Lebanese heritage and promoting a positive image of Lebanon around the world.
As a keynote speaker and one of five featured Women Pioneers, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants of the Republic of Lebanon invited Ouroumian to share her personal story and successful professional experience in the United States overcoming tremendous odds and adversity to become one of Lebanon’s role models. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs aims “to outline how prominent women of Lebanese origin achieved recognition and were able to overcome challenges and achieve success.”
Ouroumian will share her story of overcoming tremendous odds and adversity and her vision to give hope and help the youth of Lebanon and the Middle East North Africa (MENA) countries change their world through her brand of transformational leadership and by providing business and education opportunities for youth to pursue entrepreneurship and create technology startup ventures as a way to combat youth unemployment, the highest in the world at 28.6%.
Anna grew up in 11 orphanages and schools in Lebanon during the sixteen-year civil war in that country under extreme hardships, poverty, and danger. She fled Lebanon alone and came to the United States as a young teenager barely speaking English as her fourth language with $160 and two books determined to pursue the American Dream. She went on to study Economics at UCLA. She was the only student highlighted at graduation for her inspirational story and for having received the Outstanding Senior Award, the highest honor given to four undergraduates out of 10,500 seniors for outstanding academic achievements, research, as well as service to UCLA and the community.
Today, Ouroumian is a globally recognized and celebrated business leader, social entrepreneur, motivational speaker, and educator. As the Refounder, President & CEO of the Academy of Business Leadership (ABL), she has impacted the lives of youth through innovative curricula in entrepreneurship, financial literacy, transformational leadership, and capital raising training. Under her tenure since 1998, more than 120,000 primarily disadvantaged youth from across Southern California have gone through ABL’s workshops and presentations. Also, more than 3,200 students from the US and 18 countries, and from 467 elementary, middle, and high schools and 162 school districts have graduated from ABL’s award winning Summer Business Institute on eight college campuses such as UCLA, USC, CSUF, and Loyola Marymount University.
Ouroumian is a trailblazer and a pioneer in the national community service movement. She heeded President Clinton’s call to join the first class of AmeriCorps, the domestic Peace Corps, where she helped organize and clean up underserved communities in Hollywood and worked on education and economic empowerment for the communities of Central City South, South Los Angeles, and Watts. In addition, Ouroumian has served as the youngest member appointed to the Harvard Kennedy School Women’s Leadership Board for 11 years. There, she was asked to create a co-curricular leadership training program for young women from Egypt, Jordan and Kuwait, which she taught in the summers of 2007 and 2008, to help build the leadership pipeline of those countries. Anna Ouroumian is also a member of the Trusteeship of the International Women’s Forum, and a member of the Milken Institute Young Leaders Circle. She has been featured in Forbes Magazine, Reader’s Digest, among others. Anna has received numerous national and global awards and recognitions for her accomplishments, including being honored by Tyra Banks and Montel Williams TV shows, and by then First Lady of Zambia Maureen Mwanawasa in Zambia for bringing young women from Zambia to attend her programs in Los Angeles. She has also received the “George Washington Honor Medal” by the Freedoms Foundation of Valley Forge, and has received the “Inspiration Award” from the National Association Women Business Owners (NAWBO).
In 2012, Ouroumian was featured in the book Life Moments for Women that honored “108 Extraordinary California Women”. In addition, in January of 2014, the Los Angeles Lakers and Comerica Bank honored Ouroumian for her transformational impact on youth as a “Woman of Diversity” which recognizes women who are role models and breakthrough agents in our multi-cultural city, and who share their experience to guide our future leaders”.
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About: The Academy of Business Leadership is headquartered in Long Beach; CA. ABL’s vision is “to build a movement of fulfilled, prosperous, and transformational youth Leaders NOW™ for long-term sustainability in America and the world.” Through its innovative and cutting-edge programs that focus on entrepreneurship, financial literacy, transformational leadership, and capital raising skills, ABL nurtures the skills, mindset and beliefs of all youth, and in particular underserved youth, to unleash their creativity and fearlessness needed to pursue seemingly impossible dreams in all fields. ABL is now accepting applications for its 2016 Summer Business and Leadership Institute targeting youth ages 12-18. For more information and for youth to apply, please visit www.goabl.org.
Interviews: Anna will be available for interviews in Beirut, May 5-15, 2016.
Email: anna_ouroumian@yahoo.com; Mobile: +1.562.506.4516; Website: www.goabl.org
Social: WhatsApp; FB; Instagram; & Twitter.
Publicist: Nancy Treder, nancy@nancytreder.com, mobile +1.206.380.4000
About: The Lebanese Diaspora Energy (LDE) Conference will be held May 5-7, 2016 at Hilton Beirut Habtoor Grand in Beirut, Lebanon. The conference seeks to showcase the success stories of select Lebanese residents and expatriates and motivate them to stay connected, while celebrating their Lebanese heritage and promoting the positive image of Lebanon around the world. LDE represents a one-of-a-kind occasion for Lebanese emigrants to return to their roots and develop a valuable cultural, social, and economic connection with their homeland.