EMINA NAZARIAN
BOARD MEMBER
Emina Nazarian, Foundation Board Director since 2015, has long held a strong commitment to service and philanthropy. As a child in Montenegro, she witnessed her family’s generosity as they took in, fed and clothed refugees during the most-recent Balkan conflict in the 90s. The task of caring for those displaced by the violence of war was embraced by the entire village, but the stakes were high. Getting caught helping refugees could have meant imprisonment or death. The family’s determination to take a moral stand and the selflessness of risking everything for those less fortunate left a lifelong impression on Emina’s character.
Emina has found incredible success as a model and fashion entrepreneur. At age of fifteen she started her modeling career and by age nineteen she became the first Albanian Top model, gracing the covers of Vogue, Elle, and Marie Claire and walking the runway for Chanel, Jean Paul Gaultier, and Gucci.
As a board member of the Younes & Soraya Nazarian Family Foundation Emina seeks to promote humanitarian endeavors and support organizations making positive change. Emina also sits on the board of the non-profit Fundjavë Ndryshe which builds homes and provides meals to thousands of families in need in the Balkans.
Emina resides in Los Angeles with her husband, Sam, and their two daughters, Ella and Mia.