So where did you grow up? What was your family like?

So I grew up in New York.

My dad was the son of immigrants, Armenian immigrants.

His mom and dad fled the genocide, well, one before, one after the genocide in 1915, and came to the United States with nothing, you know, worked their way up and had a eventually had a dry cleaning store.

And my dad grew up behind the dry cleaning store.

But my grandmother worked as a seamstress.

My grandfather worked as a tailor.

So how did you then end up going further down that path to government service and ending up working in the White House on national security?

In other words, why did you write this?

Yeah, thank you for the question.

So I had a kind of relatively traditional career in foreign policy.

I worked at think tanks and then was lucky to be an ambassador under President Obama.

And then I came back to the U.S. and got an offer I couldn't refuse from Mayor Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles to be his first deputy mayor of international affairs.

And in that job, I learned about just the incredible power of cities.

both in improving the lives of the residents of the city, but also in how they network internationally and learn a tremendous amount from each other.

You know, special focus on especially the American case.

In other words, why did you write this?

Yeah, thank you for the question.

So I was, I had a kind of relatively traditional career in foreign policy.

It was, you know, worked at think tanks and then was lucky to be an ambassador under President Obama.

And then I came back to the U.S. and got a, an offer I couldn't refuse from Mayor Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles to be his first deputy mayor of international affairs.

And in that job, I learned about just the incredible power of cities, both in improving the, the lives of the residents of the city, but also in how they network internationally and learn a tremendous amount from each other.

So I'll give you two examples of that.

Uh, you know, special focus on especially the, the American case.

So if you would share a little bit about how Nina became Nina, that would be terrific.

Well, thank you, and thank you so much for having me and having this conversation.

Um, so I grew up as the daughter of an immigrant on my mom's side, and then, uh, a second generation on my dad's side.

Um, so I think my interest in foreign affairs and foreign policy started at a very early age.

When I went to visit my Armenian grandmother, who had, um, who was... had, as many Armenians, fled the genocide, um, it was like visiting another country.

Everything smelled different, looked different, different language.

Um, and I just loved her so much and, uh, relished those times.

Mm-hmm