The Young Professionals of Los Angeles (YPLA) have launched an innovate virtual series aimed to unite individuals throughout the AGBU community during this global pandemic. With seven successful episodes under their belt and three more in the works, the Young Professionals are continuously working to keep the community engaged, entertained, and enlightened. From Armenian cooking classes in Madrid to a remote comedy show featuring YPs from all over the world, the live series has garnered over 300 avid participants with an ever-increasing audience.
“Even in the most isolating moments, we’re able to connect with chapters around the world. We’ve met Young Professionals from other countries and chapters that we may not have met otherwise or have been able to connect with,” noted YPLA Communications Manager Rita Chakrian.
The idea for an episodic virtual series came to fruition during a virtual YPLA meeting when co-chairs Tenny Kachatourian and Carin Kellzi and Communications Chair Rita Chakrian realized that all future events would have to be conducted virtually. Rather than view this as a loss, YPLA leadership decided to keep their momentum going by orchestrating a virtual event they had long wished for: a global talent show. After reaching out to various chapters, YPLA leadership gathered musicians and dancers from all over the world to participate, engaging a global audience of almost 100 participants on their first episode.
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“This all happened within two or three days,” said Chakrian. “We had the call with our YP Group and the mass chain started.” The YPLA leadership credit the inspiration behind this series to the AGBU spirit of unity. “We launched YP Live as a way to bring everyone virtually together while we must physically stay apart,” noted Kachatourian, adding that this initiative will continue as long this quarantine persists. “We will be continuing our YP Live virtual events for as long as social distancing measures last in any of our global YP communities so we can all be together, keep our spirits up, and learn some new skills while being safe.”
The first episode of the YP Live series, “YPs Got Talent” launched on March 28th and featured talent from all over the world. “We wanted it to be open to all the YPs, but we really didn’t know it would become this huge event involving chapters in Buenos Aires to Toronto to London and all their communities,” said Kellzi. After a successful first run, the YPs of Texas carried the virtual torch and kept the momentum going with a square-down tutorial, re-creating the YP Houston Hoedown that was cancelled due to COVID-19. “Every episode hits a different target audience. We figured every locality would have something unique to bring to the table, and we could use that for continual content,” commented Chakrian.
Shortly after came a Zumba tutorial from YPLA, an Armenian Cooking Class hosted by the YPs of Madrid, and a virtual game of “YPictionary” hosted by the YPs of Buenos Aires. Each episode is highly curated, with Kachatourian as the host and interactive messaging encouraged throughout the hour-long episode.
One of the most recent episodes, “Coast to Coast Comedy,” provided comedic relief and became one of the most highly attended virtual episode to date, eliciting laughs from Egypt to LA and New York. “The comedy show really proved that a lot of people would tune in because there were over 300 people.”
“We may be on the other side of the world, but even though we can’t go out and see each other anyways, it feels like we’re all two feet apart,” mused YPLA co-chair Kachatourian.
The AGBU Young Professionals (YP), a global network, strive to promote the Armenian identity and heritage for young Armenians between the ages of 22 to 40 and empowered ambitious individuals to make a positive difference in their communities. It has grown to become one of the largest Armenian networks of its kind, with over 33 groups across the globe.
Tune in to the next YP Live using this link: bit.ly/AGBUYPLIVE.
May 2: Young Professionals Live: Episode 10 – Music for the Soul
May 3: Young Professionals Live: Episode 11 – Boozy Brunch Recipes
The Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) is the world’s largest non-profit organization devoted to upholding the Armenian heritage through educational, cultural and humanitarian programs. Each year, AGBU is committed to making a difference in the lives of 500,000 people across Armenia, Artsakh and the Armenian diaspora. Since 1906, AGBU has remained true to one overarching goal: to create a foundation for the prosperity of all Armenians. To learn more visit www.agbu.org.
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