{"id":468208,"date":"2025-05-18T12:07:03","date_gmt":"2025-05-18T16:07:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/uncategorized\/raquel-arbaje-biography-of-the-dominican-first-lady-businesswoman-and-childrens-author\/"},"modified":"2025-05-18T12:07:03","modified_gmt":"2025-05-18T16:07:03","slug":"raquel-arbaje-biography-of-the-dominican-first-lady-businesswoman-and-childrens-author","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/history\/biographies\/raquel-arbaje-biography-of-the-dominican-first-lady-businesswoman-and-childrens-author\/","title":{"rendered":"Raquel Arbaje: Biography of the Dominican First Lady, businesswoman, and children’s author"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Raquel Patricia Arbaje Soneh de Abinader<\/strong>, known only as Raquel Arbaje, was born on September 21, 1970<\/strong> in Santo Domingo<\/a>, is a prominent businesswoman, children’s literature writer and current First Lady of the Dominican Republic<\/a><\/strong> since August 16, 2020, as the wife of President Luis Abinader. Her administration has been characterized by a focus on childhood, institutional transparency and direct social action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Origin of Raquel Arbaje<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Raquel Arbaje comes from a family of Lebanese origin. She is the daughter of businessman El\u00edas Arbaje Farah<\/strong>, founder of a renowned mattress factory in the country, and Margarita Soneh Curi<\/strong>. She is the third of four siblings: Ricardo (deceased), Eduardo and M\u00f3nica. Her uncle, Bartolo Soni<\/strong>, was a professional boxer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She married on March 11, 1995<\/strong> to Luis Abinader<\/strong>, with whom she has had three daughters: Esther Patricia<\/strong>, with a degree in Public Relations and Marketing; Graciela Luc\u00eda<\/strong>, a student of Business and Political Science; and Adriana Margarita<\/strong>, a student of Psychology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Academic background<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

She completed her primary and secondary education at the Colegio del Apostolado<\/strong>. In 1992, she obtained a degree in Business Administration<\/strong>, summa cum laude<\/strong>, from the Universidad Iberoamericana (UNIBE)<\/a><\/strong>. Later, she completed diplomas in finance, marketing, senior management<\/strong> and foreign languages<\/strong>. She is fluent in English and French<\/strong>, and has knowledge of Italian and Portuguese.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Professional life<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Since 1994, Arbaje has worked in family businesses<\/strong>, gaining experience in the business sector and also venturing into telecommunications<\/strong>. His training and leadership allowed him to strengthen the company’s vision with social sensitivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She has also been an enthusiastic promoter of art and values-based education. In 2005, she released the children’s album \u201cMi cajita de valores\u201d<\/strong>, the proceeds of which were donated to charities such as Don Bosco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Political and Social Commitment<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"Raquel
Raquel Arbaje y su esposo el presidente Luis Abinader<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Raquel Arbaje has been co-founder of the Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM)<\/strong>, and is co-author of the party’s anthem<\/strong>, along with her husband. Since 2016 she became actively involved in her husband’s political campaigns, also promoting the participation of women and young people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the 2020 election campaign \u2014marked by the COVID-19 pandemic\u2014 she participated in the management of donations and distribution of medical supplies<\/strong> to hospitals and health centers. In June of that year, both she and Luis Abinader tested positive for the coronavirus, from which they fully recovered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First Lady of the Dominican Republic<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

She assumed the role of First Lady on August 16, 2020<\/strong>. Since then, she has given an institutional turn to the figure, opting to reduce the budget<\/strong> of the Office of the First Lady, proposing a more efficient and focused scheme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Raquel Arbaje presides the Childhood and Adolescence Cabinet<\/strong>, with the aim of reducing teenage pregnancy<\/strong> and early unions<\/strong>. Her focus is on the restitution of rights and prevention programs for minors in vulnerable situations.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Luis
Luis Abinader, Raquel Arbaje y sus hijas<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Through its office, it also channels direct assistance to citizens<\/strong> and collaborates with public and private institutions to resolve urgent situations of health, education, and well-being.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interests and Personal Life<\/h2>\n\n\nPassionate about art, journalism, and social service, Arbaje has promoted contests on social issues and human values. She defines herself as a practical, empathetic woman committed to human development and equity.","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Raquel Patricia Arbaje Soneh de Abinader, known only as Raquel Arbaje, was born on September 21, 1970 in Santo Domingo, is a prominent businesswoman, children’s literature writer and current First Lady of the Dominican Republic since August 16, 2020, as the wife of President Luis Abinader. Her administration has been characterized by a focus on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":468209,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[16047],"tags":[40304,40543,21,2577],"class_list":["post-468208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-biographies","tag-biography","tag-first-lady","tag-luis-abinader","tag-raquel-arbaje"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/phj1q1-1XNK","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/05\/raquel-arbaje-actividad_14612950_20200820235957.jpg","dum_api":{"author_name":"Redacci\u00f3n De \u00daltimo Minuto","author_image":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/cropped-logo-de-ultimo-minuto-96x96.png","categories_name":["Biographies"],"featured_media_url":"https:\/\/cdn.deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/05\/raquel-arbaje-actividad_14612950_20200820235957.jpg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=468208"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468208\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/468209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=468208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=468208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=468208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}