Sylvia Ghazarian
WRRAP Executive Director
Sylvia Ghazarian is WRRAP’s Executive Director and a council member for the California Future of Abortion Council. Sylvia has over 29 years of professional nonprofit and for-profit experience in fundraising, finance and operations. She has consulted and managed over 200 nonprofit fundraising and marketing campaigns and raised millions in funding. Her efforts have earned her over 23 national awards for maximum strategic achievement in exceeding campaign goals, excellence, creativity and innovation. In addition to national awards her accomplishments have earned her recognition and awards within organizations for outstanding leadership, communication, and team collaboration.
Appointed by the Mayor to chair the Commission on the Status of Women (COSW) for 12 years running now, Sylvia investigates and advocates at a policy level on issues related to healthcare, poverty, domestic/sexual violence, rape, human trafficking, homelessness, data collection, child care/early development, and mental health for Los Angeles.
Sylvia was responsible for implementing a local policy ratifying the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) — an international human rights treat condemning all forms of discrimination, retaliation, and violence against women and girls. The treaty calls on each city to overcome barriers to discrimination in the political, social, economic, and cultural fields. This includes addressing issues of affordable healthcare, including reproductive health and child care, domestic violence, trafficking, sexual assault, rape, economic security, pay inequities, paid family leave, and educational and vocational opportunities.
Additionally, Sylvia has helped her community become 100% compliant by raising awareness and reporting on human trafficking by implementing and enforcing California Senate Bill 1193. This bill mandates that 12 different types of establishments post notices publicizing human trafficking hotline resources. The resource includes a toll-free 24/7 California reporting hotline and a national reporting hotline.
Sylvia championed the COSW groundbreaking legislation to protect hotel workers and other employees from sexual violence, unreasonable workloads, and provide comprehensive education and training. The initial recommendation and presentation by Sylvia led City Council to unanimously vote to support this legislation and the COSW worked directly with City staff to return with local laws to protect hotel workers in all areas. These laws are now enforced as of January, 2020 for hotels and motels in Santa Monica and this legislation was recently replicated by West Hollywood.
Recently, Sylvia spearheaded efforts to produce a data report on the Status of Women and Girls in Santa Monica, working in collaboration with Mount Saint Mary’s University; this report outlines positive trends and persistent challenges facing women and girls. The report addresses hardships and gender disparities.
On a state level Sylvia Ghazarian was Treasurer for the Association of California Commissions for Women and works with Commissions throughout California on issues relevant to women and girls, including data collection and analyses in order to make recommendations statewide and locally. She also actively mentor’s women and girls and has mentored over 10 high school students from under-resourced communities in recent years.