Nargiz Ilgar qizi Birk-Petersen (née Abbaszadeh; ; born 7 August 1976) is an Azerbaijani-American lawyer, presenter and model. She is known for presenting the

Eurovision Song Contest 2012 The Eurovision Song Contest 2012 was the 57th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Baku, Azerbaijan, following the country's victory at the with the song "Running Scared (Ell & Nikki song), Running Scared" by Ell & Nikki, El ...

Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

together with

Eldar Gasimov Eldar "Ell" Parviz oglu Gasimov (, ; born 4 June 1989) is an Azerbaijanis, Azerbaijani singer. He Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011, represented Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 alongside Nigar Jamal, winning the compe ...

and

Leyla Aliyeva Leyla Ilham gizi Aliyeva (, born 3 July 1984) is an Azerbaijani politician who is a member of Azerbaijan's ruling Aliyev family, as the daughter of the current president, Ilham Aliyev, and granddaughter of the former president, Heydar Aliyev. A ...

Career

Birk-Petersen was born and raised in

and attended

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

in the Sabail district. At the age of 16, she began studying law at

Khazar University Khazar University (, which directly translates as Caspian University) is a private university located in Baku, Azerbaijan. Campuses Khazar University owns four campuses in the city of Baku and two campuses in regions of Azerbaijan. Xəzər U ...

. During her studies, she joined the university's

student television station A student television station is a television station run by university, high or middle school students that primarily airs school/university news and in many cases, student-produced soap operas, entertainment shows, and other programming. At the h ...

as a reporter for the English-language news program. In 1994, she decided to leave

and moved to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, where her father lived. There, she worked a

side job A side job, also informally called a side hustle or side gig, is an extra job that a person takes in addition to their primary job in order to supplement their income. Side jobs may be done out of necessity when a person's main job does not pro ...

as a

model A model is an informative representation of an object, person, or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin , . Models can be divided in ...

while pursuing a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

at the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

. Later on, she also obtained a J.D. degree from

Wayne State University Law School Wayne State University Law School (Wayne Law) is the law school of Wayne State University in Detroit. Wayne Law is located in Midtown, Detroit's Cultural Center. Founded in 1927, the law school offers juris doctor (J.D.), master of laws (LL.M.), ...

and an

LL.M. A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is a postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in another subject. In many jurisdi ...

degree in

international International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

and

comparative law Comparative law is the study of differences and similarities between the law and legal systems of different countries. More specifically, it involves the study of the different legal systems (or "families") in existence around the world, includ ...

from

Georgetown University Law Center Georgetown University Law Center is the Law school in the United States, law school of Georgetown University, a Private university, private research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law ...

. Birk-Petersen first practiced law in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, but later moved to

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, where she worked until 2011. In early 2012, she was appointed Head of Communications for the

Baku bid for the 2020 Summer Olympics Baku 2020 () was a bid for the 2020 Summer Olympics by the city of Baku and the National Olympic Committee of Azerbaijan. Bids were also placed by Doha, Istanbul, Madrid, Rome (which later cancelled its bid) and the chosen host city of Tokyo. H ...

. In this capacity, she was part of the city's delegation to the general assembly of the

Association of National Olympic Committees The Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) is an international organization that affiliates the current 206 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Every two years, it gathers all it ...

, alongside First Lady

Mehriban Aliyeva Mehriban Arif gizi Aliyeva (; born 26 August 1964) is an Azerbaijani politician and physician who is the Vice President of Azerbaijan, vice president and First Lady of Azerbaijan, First Lady of Azerbaijan. She is married to Ilham Aliyev, the pre ...

and Ministers

Yaqub Eyyubov Yagub Abdulla oghlu Eyyubov (; born 24 October 1945) is an Azerbaijani politician who has been First Deputy Prime Minister of Azerbaijan since 2003. Early years Eyyubov was born Mingachevir in 1945. He studied at Azerbaijan Technical University ...

and

Azad Rahimov Azad Arif oglu Rahimov (, October 8, 1964 – April 30, 2021) was an Azerbaijani politician who served as the Minister of Youth and Sports of Azerbaijan Republic. Early life and business affairs Rahimov was born into the family of a housekeeper ...

. In the same year, Birk-Petersen was chosen to co-host the

after participating in a

casting Casting is a manufacturing process in which a liquid material is usually poured into a mold, which contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape, and then allowed to solidify. The solidified part is also known as a casting, which is ejected or ...

organized by the Azerbaijani broadcaster

İctimai Television İctimai Television (İTV; , ) is a public television channel in Azerbaijan. After its legal creation in 2004, the station began broadcasting on 29 August 2005, making it the first independent public broadcaster in Azerbaijan. The channel is bas ...

. She presented three televised shows on 22, 24 and 26 May 2012 together with singer

and television presenter

. The broadcasts attracted over 100 million viewers worldwide. After the Eurovision Song Contest, Birk-Petersen has worked as a

counsel A counsel or a counsellor at law is a person who gives advice and deals with various issues, particularly in legal matters. It is a title often used interchangeably with the title of ''lawyer''. The word ''counsel'' can also mean advice given ...

for the pharmaceutical companies

Novo Nordisk Novo Nordisk A/S is a Danish multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Bagsværd, with production facilities in nine countries and affiliates or offices in five. Novo Nordisk is controlled by majority shareholder Novo Holdings A/S ...

and

Shire Shire () is a traditional term for an administrative division of land in Great Britain and some other English-speaking countries. It is generally synonymous with county (such as Cheshire and Worcestershire). British counties are among the oldes ...

. Since 2019, she works as a senior director at

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company The is a Japanese multinational pharmaceutical company. It is the third largest pharmaceutical company in Asia, behind Sinopharm and Shanghai Pharmaceuticals, and one of the top 20 largest pharmaceutical companies in the world by revenue (t ...

. She is also the Head Counsel of the

Dubai International Financial Centre The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) is a special economic zone in Dubai covering , established in 2004 as a financial hub for companies operating throughout the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia (MEASA) markets. DIFC is regulated ...

Personal life

Birk-Petersen's mother,

Maleyka Abbaszadeh Maleyka Mehdi qizi Abbaszadeh (, née Mustafayeva, born 1953, Baku) is the Chair of the State Students Admission Commission of Azerbaijan. Career Maleyka Abbaszadeh was born in Baku and attended Public School #189. In 1975, she graduated from Mos ...

, is the chairperson of the State Student Admission Commission of Azerbaijan. She is married to Ulrik Birk-Petersen, a Danish diplomat whom she met in Washington, D.C., and currently resides in

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

, United Arab Emirates, with her husband and their three children. She has previously lived in

Østerbro Østerbro () is one of the 10 official districts of Copenhagen Municipality, Denmark. It is located just north of the city centre, outside the old city gate Østerport which, after it was moved around 1700, used to be located close to present-day ...

, Copenhagen.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Birk-Petersen, Nargiz 1976 births American people of Azerbaijani descent Azerbaijani expatriates in the United Arab Emirates Azerbaijani female models Azerbaijani women television presenters Georgetown University Law Center alumni Khazar University alumni Lawyers from Baku Living people Takeda Pharmaceutical Company people University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts alumni Wayne State University Law School alumni

Career

Personal life

See also

References

External links