Lavinia Valbonesi

Ángela Lavinia Valbonesi Acosta (born 8 April 1998) is an Ecuadorian businesswoman, nutritionist, and social media influencer who is the current first lady of Ecuador since 2023 as the wife of President Daniel Noboa.

A nutritionist, Valbonesi owns a healthy dining establishment, fitness center and has specialized in healthier diets and weight loss. She has also gained a large social media following on Instagram and TikTok, amassing over 338,000 and nearly 620,000 followers respectively.

Early life
Valbonesi was born Ángela Lavinia Valbonesi Acosta on 8 April 1998 in Chone, Ecuador, daughter of Furio Valbonesi (1953-2024) and Gloria Acosta an Ecuadorian mother (b. January 16, 1968), is the daughter in-law of the former ecuadorian presidential candidate Álvaro Noboa and his wife Anabella Azín. She was raised in the Galapagos Islands of Ecuador. She studied at the Liceo Panamericano. She specializes in nutrition and is a nutritionist coach and personal trainer. Valbonesi stated that when she was 15 years old, she had body image issues until she attended a fitness conference in Australia in 2015.

Valbonesi maintains a fitness center in Tampa, Florida. Valbonesi is the owner of a healthy dining establishment, Green Deli, located in Guayaquil. As a nutritionist, she specializes in weight loss, body composition, bodybuilding and composing healthy diets for patients.

Aside from her nutritionist career, she had garnered a large online following with over 338,000 Instagram followers and 209,000 on TikTok followers. She began her social media career in 2014 at the age of 16. At first, her social media posts focused on her personal life, modeling and her lifestyle, however she soon began focusing on nutrition and fitness. She has also modeled for several beauty care brands such as Herbal Essences.

2023 general election
During the 2023 Ecuadorian presidential elections, she accompanied her husband Daniel Noboa during the campaign trail. In August 2023, when her husband came in second place and advanced to the run-off, Valbonesi was the most searched person on Google in the country. Valbonesi utilized her social media status to influence Noboa's campaign with the younger voters and boosted his image. She remained popular through her fashion style during the campaign trail. Her clothing choice of wearing white was noted during the election cycle, even wearing a white bulletproof vest during campaign events. In the weeks leading to the run-off election, supporters of Noboa began promoting the idea of Valbonesi becoming first lady rather than her husband becoming president. Her Guayaquil-based restaurant Green Deli, began selling the 'First Lady Smoothie' before the run-off election.

On 15 October 2023, Noboa was elected president, making Valbonesi the first lady-designate of the country. She is the country's youngest first lady at the age of 25.

Tenure
Valbonesi became first lady of Ecuador when her husband was inaugurated president on 23 November 2023. She has said that one of her first initiatives as first lady is to provide assistance to single mothers in the country.

Personal life
In 2019, she met Daniel Noboa when he hired her as his personal nutritionist to lose weight while he was married. They were married on 28 August 2021. They have two sons.

In an interview with Radio Centro, Valbonesi expressed her "horror" when Noboa shifted from his business career to politics when he ran for the National Assembly in the 2021 election. However, she quickly shifted her attitude after joining Noboa on the campaign trail.