Name: Rasmila Alaverdyan
Place of Birth: Baku, Azerbaijan
Date of Birth: 9 June 1974
Favorite Band or Singer: ABBA
Favorite Song: “Free” (Stevie Wonder)
Favorite Song from Paros Chamber Choir Repertoire: Oror (Lullaby) by B.Kanachian
Personal Goal: 1) To be always with the man I love. 2) To open a small children’s home. 3) To fulfill my creative potential.
Personal Statement including hobbies, interests, family, etc.: I love animals and documentaries about animals. My hobby is to take pictures and shoot videos of animals and nature. I like cooking, listening to good music, especially to live classical music, going to classical music concerts and to the theater. I like traveling, watching the sea and especially serf-riding.

I was born in Baku, Azerbaijan. There I attended a special musical school and took piano classes. When the Karabakh conflict began at the end of the 80s, my family was forced to abandon Azerbaijan. We had to move to a small town in the Ukraine where I lived for three years and obtained a degree in surgical nursing. Afterwards we moved to Armenia.

At the age of eighteen I was hired at the IPTRC. The Center was intended to treat and rehabilitate people with serious spinal cord injuries. Back then I would not have guessed that one of those patients would become my future husband. We began our relationship simply as friends, we had similar interests, and later on when Armen was discharged out of the hospital, we fell in love and decided to get married. I was 20 at the time and Armen was 30.

At the age of twenty-one I left the IPTRC because of my decision to continue musical education. As a result, I graduated from the Yerevan Komitas State Conservatory with excellent marks and earned an honored diploma followed by post-graduate studies with a major in musicology. At present I have more than 70 published articles on the topic of culture.

I was equally interested in the sphere of human rights protection, and for the past four years now, I have dealt with the rights of disabled people. I was privileged to participate several trainings and conferences devoted to human rights, which not only increased my knowledge in the field, but also helped me gain a shared experience of the participants from other countries.

From the day of its formation in 1993 up until today (with a break from 1995-1999), I have been accompanying in the Paros Chamber Choir and have composed an arrangements of folk songs.

I consider my life to be quite fulfilling and interesting. In spite of my age, I have managed to visit more than 10 European countries, returning to some more than once. I am happy that Armen and I are both filling the same important role at Unison. I am a cheerful person by nature and have a lot of friends. I love listening to good music of various styles. I like traveling, taking photos of the nature, videotaping, and I like giving out useful presents to my friends. I enjoy Armenian and Russian cuisine, and I am a good cook. I dream of having a baby and I think, if my dream ever came true, then I would be the happiest person on earth.