PORTLAND, Maine — Anna Astvatsaturian Turcotte of Westbrook and Mikell Reed Carroll of Portland were recently selected to attend the White House United State of Women Summit to be held June 13-15 in Washington DC.
Convened by the White House, the United State of Women Summit will rally women and changers together to celebrate what they have already achieved, and how they are going to take action moving forward. Covering key gender equality issues, it will make a powerful difference in our collective future. The Summit will focus on six topics: Economic Empowerment, Health and Wellness, Educational Opportunity, Violence Against Women, Entrepreneurship and Innovation and Leadership and Civic Engagement.
Both Turcotte and Carroll are alumni of the University of Maine School of Law, graduating in 2003 and 2002, respectively. After being nominated and selected to attend the Summit, the women learned of each other’s participation in the Summit through social media.
Turcotte is a writer, lecturer, and human rights activist. She is an Armenian refugee from Baku, Azerbaijan. After fleeing Baku in the fall of 1989, Anna and her family spent three years in Armenia as refugees before coming to United States in 1992.
She is a graduate of University of North Dakota and University of Maine School of Law. She is a recipient of Outstanding Law Student of the Year by Who’s Who American Law Students award for her work on the International Criminal Court (ICC). Turcotte is a recipient of Mkhitar Gosh Medal, Republic of Armenia’s highest civilian honor awarded by President Serge Sargsyan for exceptional achievements in the political-social spheres, as well as outstanding efforts in the fields of diplomacy, law, and political science. Anna also received a Gratitude Medal from the President of Nagorno-Karabagh Republic (NKR), Bako Sahakyan, for her efforts toward NKR’s global recognition.
In 2012 she published her book Nowhere, a Story of Exile, which she wrote at the age of 14 as her family settled in North Dakota. The book is based the childhood diaries that she kept as her family was fleeing Baku, Azerbaijan and during years in Armenia as refugees.
