Rima Otrakji
Rima Moussallem Otrakji is the Vice President of the Board of the Rene Moawad Foundation, USA and has its Miami Gala Chair for the past 17 years. She is a tireless fundraiser and philanthropist and supports many worthy causes both local and international. She is currently serving a second term as the President of the AUB Florida Chapter of the American University of Beirut Alumni Association. She established the AUB Rima Moussallem Otrakji Endowment Scholarship Fund that supports women’s education within record time of one year. Rima is also an entrepreneur and a businesswoman being the owner of Rima’s Gifts, a retail personal shopper boutique located in Coconut Grove and the Vice President of “Miami Living”, a company that owns and manages Real Estate. In fact, Rima’s Gifts was the winner of 2024 Miami Dade’s favorite place to buy a Gift, as publicized by the Miami Harold.
She was and still is active at her daughters’ school, Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart, where she chaired the Annual Giving and Major Gifts committees for fourteen years and does substitute teaching.
Rima is an avid French Teacher having taught French at College Louise Wegmann in 1984 and 1985 and continues to do so privately in Miami. Rima is fluent in five languages: Arabic, French, English, Spanish and Italian. She studied classical guitar and plays competitive Tennis.
As VP of the Rene Moawad Foundation, Rima shares many goals in common including education and the environment which she deeply cares about in addition for her compassion for animals. “Keeping the environment clean and sustainable and educating the new generation will secure a better future for them. Less fortunate children deserve a chance to have a better future” and she believes that she can make a difference by opening her heart and helping them achieve that goal. “Education should not be a choice”, she adds, “it should be a requirement in order to live in a better world.” As for animals, she is known in her neighborhood as the ‘Cat Fairy’ having adopted over 40 cats which she feeds daily.
Rima Moussallem Otrakji was born in Beirut, Lebanon, where she graduated High School from College Protestant Français. She studied in London and Paris for a few years during the Lebanese war. She attended the American University of Beirut and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in political science and public administration and a minor in education. Rima was active at AUB by being member of the Music club, fundraising through live concerts for AUB and vice president of the Lebanese heritage club.
Rima is married to Dr. Christian Otrakji, has two beautiful daughters, Natasha and Danielle and has recently become a proud grandmother of granddaughter Éléa.