Our Founders

Younes Nazarian and his wife Soraya founded the Los Angeles-based Y&S Nazarian Family Foundation, with a regional office in Israel named the Ima Foundation. Younes is well-known today as a philanthropist, industrialist, businessman, and a leader in the Persian Jewish community in Los Angeles as well as Tel Aviv.

Soraya Nazarian and her husband Younes founded the Los Angeles-based Y&S Nazarian Family Foundation, with a regional office in Israel named the Ima Foundation. Soraya is an Iranian-born, Los Angeles-based artist who, in her 25-year-career, has become a master in the medium of direct carving in stone. Her work carries themes of motherhood, family, spirituality and Iranian culture.