Pashinyan’s wife launches series of educational talks, mimicking Ted Talks

On 15 March, the My Step Foundation, headed by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s wife Anna Hakobyan, launched a local series of talks called the Learning is Trendy, which are said to be inspired by TED Talks.

In its statement, the My Step Foundation said that the first event ‘marked the creation of an educational, informal platform in a new format, which is aimed at providing the public at large with the opportunity to broaden their knowledge, discover new ideas and deepen their notions of various topics’.

In her opening remarks at the event, according to the foundation, Hakobyan stated that ‘she will try to host the leading speakers from different sectors from Armenia and abroad in the near future’.

The first talk was given by Pashinyan, whose speech called ‘To Know How’, focused on ‘the need to learn, become specialised and gain skills in different sectors from the perspective of not only learning but also acting under the principle of “knowing how” ’.

Pashinyan will deliver the same lecture on 27 April.

The statement also noted that the Learning is Trendy movement ‘is open for everyone, regardless of age, profession, political, social or other affiliation’, and offered interested people to fill out an application in order to participate in the meetings.

According to the foundation, among the guests of the first event of the lecture format were ‘nearly 600 members […] who had previously participated in the meetings of the “Learning is Trendy” movement’, along with Hakobyan.

Hakobyan launched the movement in November 2024. Back then, she showed in a post on Facebook that with her social media pages, she could ‘have 17-18 million views in a month’. She added that it was ‘a very compelling fact’ for her, in which she saw ‘an opportunity that must be used’.

‘Let's declare 2025 the year of education. And this is not about academic education at all. It is about acquiring the knowledge that is necessary to make our own lives, our environment even better’.

Aside from the online campaign, Hakobyan, with her foundation, hosts events under the same title. Hakobyan also shares her online learning experience, such as time studying English.

However, this initiative has not been completely apolitical — Hakobyan has occasionally used it to criticise Pashinyan’s political opponents.

The My Step Foundation was founded shortly after the Velvet Revolution in 2018. The Executive director is Hakobyan, while prominent members of the ruling Civil Contract party hold various other positions.

Among those is the Chair Lena Nazaryan, who is currently serving as an MP from the ruling Civil Contract faction, and was Armenia’s former deputy speaker of the parliament.

It also carries the name of Pashinyan’s 2018 protest movement, which together with other civic movements and initiatives led to nationwide anti-government demonstrations in Armenia, obtaining the name of the Velvet Revolution.

The faction of the same name became the majority in the Armenian Parliament following the 2018 snap elections.

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OC MediaArshaluys Barseghyan