María Juliana Awada is an Argentine businesswoman who served as First Lady of Argentina from 2015 to 2019.
She was the first woman in this role to receive the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic in 70 years, and only the second in history after Eva Perón in 1947. In 2016, she was named the world’s most elegant First Lady by Hola magazine.
Biography
Awada was born in Villa Ballester on April 3, 1974, the daughter of Ibrahim Awada, a Muslim immigrant from the Lebanese city of Baalbek, and Elsa Esther Baker, of Syrian descent. She is the sister of entrepreneurs Zoraida and Daniel Awada, the artist Leila Awada, and the actor Alejandro Awada.
Childhood
During her childhood and teenage years, she traveled repeatedly with her mother to Europe and the United States, mainly to Paris, London, and New York, in search of fashion collections. After finishing her secondary education at a bilingual English school in Belgrano, the now-defunct Chester College, she perfected her English in Oxford, England.
As soon as she returned to Argentina, she became actively involved in the family business, a textile company founded by her father in the 1960s. In 1997, she married Gustavo Capello, from whom she divorced a year later.
She later entered into a relationship with Belgian businessman Bruno Laurent Barbier, whom she had met on an Air France flight. Although they lived together for almost ten years, they never married but had a daughter named Valentina.
First Lady of Buenos Aires
Awada and Mauricio Macri began a relationship in 2009. They married on November 16, 2010, and have a daughter, Antonia, born in 2011. In a 2012 interview with La Nación, she stated that her father is a liberal Muslim who did not object when one of Juliana’s sisters married a Christian and another a Jew.
In July 2016, the First Lady and President Macri embarked on a European tour that took them to France, Belgium, and Germany, where the president sought to position himself internationally as a political and trade partner of the European Union.
In Paris, Macri and Awada met with French President François Hollande, and in Berlin with German Chancellor Angela Merkel during a two-day official visit. In Brussels, they were received by European Council President Donald Tusk and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Federica Mogherini.
The president and the first lady were also welcomed at the Royal Palace in Brussels by King Philippe and Queen Mathilde.
Awada meeting with Empress Michiko of Japan, Tokyo, 2017
In September 2016, Awada accompanied her husband to the G-20 Summit held in Hangzhou, China.
During the summit, she carried out her own agenda, visiting a Buddhist temple and a pedestrian street of local crafts on the first day. The next day, she visited Zhejiang University and participated in an event at the China Academy of Art.
In February 2017, President Mauricio Macri and the First Lady made a state visit to Spain. The First Lady and Queen Letizia spoke about the ties uniting both countries and agreed on the importance of working to protect children and promote the full development of women.
“I’m very grateful to have the opportunity to come to this country with Mauricio, representing Argentina. It’s an honor and a great responsibility that I embrace with enthusiasm,” Awada said after her meeting with the queen at the Zarzuela Palace.
The meeting between Awada and Letizia took place in parallel to the meeting between President Macri and King Felipe VI of Spain. The president’s wife gave Queen Letizia a bracelet inspired by the Pampas, silver-plated, by designer Federico Álzaga. “We talked about our roles, our countries with so much shared history and ties, and also about our experiences as women and as mothers of two girls. I felt very comfortable, and the conversation flowed naturally,” she added.