Paula Yacoubian

In 2018, she announced her candidacy for the 2018 Lebanese Parliamentary Elections, running for the Armenian Orthodox seat in the Beirut I constituency. She was officially announced as a winner following the elections which took place on Sunday 6 May 2018.

Yacoubian joined efforts with social activists and is running for the Lebanese parliamentary elections that were held in May 2018. On May 7, 2018, it was announced that she won a seat and is now a member of the parliament.

Yacoubian received many awards throughout her career, and in August 2017 she received a prominent award "Officier De L'Ordre de la Couronne" (Officer of the Order of the Crown) from King Philippe I of Belgium, in reward for all the work she has carried out.

As a humanist/social activist, always advocating on behalf of the less privileged, Paula was successful in launching “Dafa Campaign”, one of the largest and most successful donation campaigns in Lebanon and the Middle East for the second year in a row. "Dafa Campaign" has reached 14,800 underprivileged families in Lebanon in November 2015, 43,000 families in December 2016, and more than 100,000 in 2017.

Yacoubian started work in June 1995 in ICN (Independent Communications Network), a Lebanese television station founded by Henri Sfeir. Through Sfeir's encouragement, who also had the license for Nida' al Watan newspaper, the then 19-year-old Yacoubian became a celebrity broadcasting news and interviews and appeared frequently in the news broadcasts of the station. She was later assigned as head of the station's regional and international news department and had her own talk news program, Al Sulta al Raabi'a (in Arabic السلطة الرابعة meaning the Fourth Power). She was very active in highlighting the Armenian Genocide in an Arabic language series.

Paula Yacoubian (born Paulette Siragan Yaghobian on April 4, 1976) is a Lebanese politician and law-maker of Armenian ethnic origins from her father's side. She was previously known as a journalist and a television host. She is one of Lebanon’s most prominent television personalities. Throughout her career, she had worked as a host in a number of Lebanese and pan-Arab international television stations. Known for the transformational impact she's had in her organizations and the broader community, Paula became one of the experts chosen by the World Bank group as a member of their 'External Advisory Panel for Diversity and Inclusion' as a result of her advocacy for women's rights, her efforts for women empowerment, as well as for being a fierce defender of electoral women quota and a fairer electoral law in Lebanon.