By Meryem Bouzaachane
Rabat – Commenting on the victory of his daughter, Audrey, to chair the United Nation Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), André Azoulay, an adviser to Moroccan King Mohammed VI, said with a joyful and enthusiastic voice, “Her competence made her win deservedly the UNESCO presidency.”
For the father of the new UNESCO director, the harmony of calm and enthusiasm in his daughter’s smile is the key to everything. Her sincerity and belief in what she is doing makes her “the right person for this job,” the adviser to the King of Morocco told Asswat Magharebia.
“It is no coincidence that she won the presidency of UNESCO, and it is not arbitrary that she got 30 votes against 28 for the Qatari candidate. She is a diligent and a hardworking woman,” he added.
Audrey Azoulay
Audrey Azoulay was born in Paris on August 4, 1972, into a Moroccan Jewish family originally from Essaouira. She studied at France’s Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA), an elite school that grooms France’s future leaders.
Azoulay then received a master’s degree in management sciences from the Paris Dauphine University and a master’s degree in business administration from Britain’s Lancaster University. She studied political science at the National School of Management in Paris.
During her studies, Azoulay worked in banking, an experience she said she “hated. ”She also worked at France’s Court of Audits and several years in various media departments at the culture ministry, before being appointed in 2016 as minister of culture in Francois Holland’s government.
Audrey and Morocco
Although Azoulay was born in France, she has remained “faithful to her Moroccan origins,” said the father. She visits Essaouira continuously with her husband and two children.
Her father revealed that they, in the family, “did not notice her interest in historic sites in her childhood, but that changed when she grew up and became fond of the historic sites and protecting them.”
When this interest turned into a professional calling, the family was behind Azoulay. “The entire family supported her candidacy for the presidency of UNESCO and indeed she won and did not disappoint us.”
Azoulay’s relationship with her native country is deeply rooted. According to her father, she has always felt proud of her Moroccan origins and considers them an added value that gives her excellence and exception. She does not hesitate at any opportunity to introduce the world to her origins and repeat her famous phrase: “I am a French citizen of Moroccan origin. So, never forget that.”
This article was translated by Morocco World News and published in partnership with Maghrebvoices
