SOAR - Orange County Chapter

The Orange County (OC) Chapter joined the SOAR family in August 2013. About 40 miles south of downtown Los Angeles, OC is a rapidly growing metropolis. Given its fairly close proximity to Glendale (about 50 miles) and strong job market, many Armenians have moved to OC over the last decade. Compared to other neighborhoods in California, OC is fairly nascent in terms of its Armenian population. The earliest record of a count of the Armenian population of the area is from the Board of Trustees of the OC Armenians in 1973. The group identified 150 local residents as Armenian and soon set out to build the community’s first Armenian Church. Today, the largest population of Armenians can be found in northern and central OC, specifically in the cities of Newport Beach, Anaheim, Costa Mesa, and Irvine.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS:

Silva Benlian
President

Originally born and raised in Beirut, Lebanon, Silva moved to the US at the age of 14 with both of her parents and her brother and sister. She graduated from California State University, Fullerton with a BA in Business and Communications. Silva was Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Pangea Organics, and prior to that she worked for Arbonne International as their National Director where she lead efforts of opening new International Markets.

She has been very fortunate to have had an incredible career working in the Beauty and Health/Wellness industry for over 20 years for Fortune 500 companies. Most recently, Silva left her corporate career in Executive Management behind to build her own business helping others get healthy and improve their lives.

She is very passionate about helping others and now she would like to channel that passion by helping Armenian orphans through SOAR.

Maggie Attashian
Treasurer

Maggie Attashian was born and raised in Reno, NV. She graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno with a Bachelors in journalism, emphasis in broadcast and public relations and minored in business administration. During college she was in Delta Gamma and was Director of Social and Special Events for 2 years. After graduation she moved to Marina del Rey, CA for two years and in 2013 she made the move down to Orange County where she now lives in Irvine. Maggie went back to school in 2016 for her Certificate in project management from UCI. Some of my hobbies include working out at Barry’s Bootcamp, hiking, snowboarding, and spending time with family and friends.

Marlin Agoub
Secretary

Marlin was born in Kuwait, then raised in Orange County since she was 3 years old.

She granduated from University of Califronia, Irvine in 2013 with a major in Political Science. At UCI, she was a peer educator for the Campus Assualt Resources and Education Center, as well as a photographer for the campus newspaper, yearbook, and athletics department. Continuing her interest in photography, she does freelance for various events, sports games and lifestyle portraits.

Marlin completed her Paralegal Studies certificate at UCI Extension in 2015 and currently works as an assistant at Snell & Wilmer law firm in Costa Mesa.

 Elizabeth Davtian

Elizabeth Davtian is a mom to two beautiful girls. She grew up in Burbank but her she and her family moved to OC over 14 years ago. They currently live in Newport Coast and want to support more Armenian initiatives.
She has her M.S. in BioPsychology and has worked in  the Pharmaceuticals industry and Research & development for years, including working on the first HIV antiretroviral drug.
Elizabeth designed and manufactured an Armenian children’s learning toy, and ran a multi-million dollar real estate business. She is now researching how Quantum Physics can be applied to our daily lives for better mental and physical health.
Elizabeth is happy to join SOAR Orange County to help change lives.

Christine Sarkisian

Pic and Bio coming soon

Lara Sinanian

Pic and Bio coming soon