Conversations with Giovanna Sulahian

Today we’d like to introduce you to Giovanna Sulahian.

Giovanna, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Somehow, I’ve built a community around two parts of my life that couldn’t seem more different. Some came for law school and Bar exam advice, and others came to learn how to make the Armenian dishes they grew up eating. Both make perfect sense to me.

I grew up in Newport Beach in a close knit Armenian family, where culture, food, and tradition were a huge part of my upbringing. I was also always incredibly driven when it came to school and my career. I attended Loyola Marymount University and later Loyola Law School, passed the California Bar, and became an attorney.

I started sharing pieces of my life online without ever really having a plan for what my “niche” was supposed to be. Over time, two very different communities naturally formed. One is made up of younger women, including so many young Armenian women, who come to me with questions about law school, the Bar, and starting their careers. I remember being that girl with the same questions, so being able to share what I’ve learned has become something I genuinely love.

The other has grown around my cooking. Armenian food has always been one of the ways I feel most connected to my culture and my family. The way I cook is Armenian at its core, but it’s also shaped by the Syrian and Lebanese influences I grew up with. I love hearing from younger women learning the dishes they grew up eating, and especially from older women who share their own tips with me or tell me they learned something from the way I made a dish.

For a long time, I thought these interests made my path a little scattered. Now I realize they’re probably the most authentic representation of who I am. At the heart of both is something I really value: passing knowledge forward.

That’s what inspired the two projects I’m working on now. I’m developing a digital guide with the law school and California Bar advice I’m most often asked for, including the things I wish I had known myself. I’m also putting the recipes I grew up with into writing with the goal of creating a cookbook that preserves those traditions for the next generation.

These days, I’m also a wife and mom of two. I’ve stopped feeling like I need to choose one title or fit neatly into one box. I’m an attorney, a mom, and an Armenian woman who will happily talk to you about the Bar exam and then tell you what you’re doing wrong with your eech. Apparently, there’s room for all of it.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The biggest struggle for me has been letting go of the idea that there is one “right” way for my life or career to look.

For so long, I was a checklist person. Go to college, go to law school, pass the Bar, become an attorney, build a career. I worked incredibly hard for those things and I’m proud of them, but no one really prepares you for accomplishing what you thought you wanted and realizing you’re allowed to want something different too.

Becoming a mom changed a lot for me. My ambition didn’t disappear, but my definition of success shifted. Stepping back from practicing law full time sometimes made me question whether I was wasting something I had worked so hard for. Today, I’m still involved in the legal world through C&B Law Group, my husband’s firm, where I’ve been able to use both my legal background and my interest in marketing and creative strategy. I’ve had to learn that life comes in seasons, and giving more of myself to one part of my life doesn’t mean I’ve abandoned the others.

I’ve felt a similar pressure with social media. For a long time, I thought I needed to pick a niche and make myself easy to categorize. Was I the lawyer? The mom? The girl who cooks Armenian food? Eventually, I realized that narrowing myself down was taking away from what made my community feel genuine in the first place.

Now I feel much more intentional about where I’m headed. I want to keep creating, build things that are useful to my community, stay connected to the career I worked so hard for, and be present for my family. Those are the things I want to build my life around. I’ve learned that having direction doesn’t necessarily mean having every step mapped out.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
The creative side of my life is one I discovered almost by accident. I’m an attorney by training, so I’m naturally very structured and probably overly analytical. Content creation has given me a completely different outlet, and I’ve really grown to love the storytelling behind it.

I’m particular about what I share. Whether I’m sharing a recipe, motherhood, my career, or something from everyday life, I want it to feel like something I would genuinely talk about even if there wasn’t a camera in front of me.

What I’m most proud of is the trust I’ve built with my community. When someone makes one of my recipes for their family, asks me for advice, or tells me something I shared resonated with them, it makes what I am doing genuinely meaningful.

Being an attorney has influenced the way I create more than I realized. I’m detail oriented, I research everything, and if I’m sharing something as advice, I want there to be substance behind it. At the same time, content has taught me to loosen up, trust my instincts, and not overthink every single thing, although I’m definitely still working on that last part.

We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
Most people are surprised to learn that I didn’t cook often growing up. My mom questions how I became so interested in it when I never cooked at home, and my answer is simple: she was always cooking for us, so I never had to!

I did have one ambitious attempt when I was about eight. I tried to surprise my parents by making mamounia, a traditional Syrian breakfast pudding made with semolina, and nearly burned the house down in the process. Clearly, the culinary instincts came later.

I was also a huge nerd growing up, but a very bossy one. My younger sister Gianélle can confirm that. I’m still extremely Type A and have a hard time turning my brain off or sitting still when there’s something I could be doing. So in hindsight, eight year old me deciding she could make mamounia by herself was pretty on brand.

Contact Info:

• Website: C&B Law Group
• Instagram: Instagram: @giovannasulahian
• Other: TikTok: @giovannasulahian