Editor's note: This is the third in a series on the six chosen as part of the annual Women Who Mean Business awards by the United Way of Acadiana. For tickets, visit bit.ly/womenwhomeanbusiness2024.
Roya Boustany was a teenager in 2002 when her father became ill and the family moved to his native Iran. Born and raised in Lafayette, she was able to meet extended family and become immersed in the language and culture.
Then her mother and sister were wrongfully detained by the government there without a charge or reason. Boustany, a political science student at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette at the time, points to that moment as what influenced her career.
She realized the importance of fairness in justice, inspiring her to become an advocate for all those who have been wronged.
“If it could happen to someone as innocent as my mom and my sister, it does happen to people every single day,” said Boustany, now an assistant district attorney with the 15th Judicial District. “Making sure everyone receives equitable justice is not just something that I use as a token phrase. It’s something I truly believe in every aspect of what I do.”
Boustany is among the six women to be honored at the Women Who Mean Business awards presented by Home Bank and hosted by the United Way of Acadiana. A banquet will be at 5:30 p.m. May 9 at The Jefferson, 500 Jefferson St.
Boustany has been with the DA’s office for 10 years and has worked to ensure her clients feel valued as individuals and are not just another case file.
In 2022, she ran for Division A city court judge but lost to Jules Edwards III in a December runoff. Now she says she isn’t considering another run for public office but the experience made her realize the support she had from the community.
“I was called by so many people who urged me to run and thought the qualities I had as a person and a lawyer were fitting for the bench,” Boustany said. “That was eye-opening for me because I was just doing my job.”
She has been active in community organizations throughout her career as a prosecutor. She is president of the Junior League of Lafayette and on the board for the Lafayette Bar Association and she also volunteers with the Acadiana Center for the Arts and the Boys and Girls Club of Acadiana.
Community engagement, she said, is important to show her three children — Ace, 8, Ali Grace, 6, and Jack, 3 — the value of the community they were raised in and encourage them to stick around after they grow up.
“I think many of the women who are being recognized never do work for recognition,” Boustany said of the honor. “I know these honorees, and they’re all so amazing in their own right. I don’t do any of this to be recognized, but it’s really nice that somebody sees what you do.”