LEAD TEAM

Christine Serdjenian-Yearwood I Deputy Director

Christine Serdjenian-Yearwood joins AAAN as our Deputy Director after nearly five years of community and coalition building as the organization’s New York Field Organizer. Renowned for championing inclusivity, as the Founder and CEO of UP-STAND, she has spent over a decade in research and recommending cutting-edge accessibility designs, technology, and policies for businesses and agencies, including the MTA and DFTA. Christine has held past roles with the NYC Department of Education, Counterpart International, Teach For America, the Harlem Children’s Zone, and in Higher Education Administration as a SWA and in Title IX Compliance. She holds a M.E. in Higher Education from Harvard University, a M.S.T. in ESL from Pace University, and a B.A. in Sociology from Brown University.

Dr. Armen I Co-Founder, Executive Director

Dr. Armen is an organizer, writer, and scholar born and raised in Los Angeles, California. She has been building in civil rights, gender justice and SWANA organizing for the past 15 years. She received her PhD in Ethnic Studies at the University of California, San Diego on SWANA-American communities. Her writing and work has appeared in The Los Angeles Times, the Los Angeles Review of Books, NPR, and Mondoweiss.

Antriana Bigiazian I Lead Organizer

Antriana Bigiazian is the Lead Organizer at AAAN. A graduate of UC Riverside, she finished with a BA in Political Science/ International Affairs and a BS in Sociology/Law and Society. At UCR, she worked on programming with the Middle Eastern Student Center for two years, where she developed cultural programs and community organizing events for SWANA students. Antriana also served as the Immigrant Rights Appointed Officer within the UC Student Association, where she focused on immigrant rights advocacy UC-wide. As a student, Antriana centered Armenian advocacy and co-instructed the first Armenian history class at UC Riverside, while also founding the first SWANA Advocacy Day, which later expanded UC-wide to increase student representation in legislative spaces.

ADVISORY