Araksya Karapetyan

Karapetyan was born on August 27, 1982,^[1] in Armenia's second largest city of Gyumri (then called Leninakan). She witnessed the 1988 Armenian earthquake that left her native city devastated.^[5] In an article written following a March 17, 2014, earthquake in Los Angeles, Karapetyan wrote: "Every time we get a shaker here in Southern California I quickly have a flashback to my childhood. I was 6-years old in 1988 when a devastating earthquake hit my hometown in Gyumri."^[6] Meanwhile, the ethnic conflict with Azerbaijan intensified as the Soviet Union was on its way to collapse. Due to these hardships her family emigrated to the United States in 1990.^[2][5] She grew up in Palos Verdes Estates, California and attended Palos Verdes Peninsula High School.^[2]

She graduated from Syracuse University's S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications with a degree in international relations and broadcast journalism.^[2] Karapetyan began her television career as an intern at KABC-TV in Los Angeles and KFI 640 AM radio in Burbank, California. In the past, she has also worked for KIDK-TV in Idaho Falls, Idaho (as reporter, anchor and producer), KOIN-TV in Portland, Oregon (as a reporter and host) and as a reporter at CitiCABLE, a government access cable television channel for the City of Torrance, California.^[2]

Karapetyan is fluent in English, Armenian and is "conversational" in Russian and Spanish.^[2] She is married to Amir Yousefi and they have two daughters.^[4]