At seventeen, she won first prize in a art show, consisting of a three month scholarship to Perugia courtesy of the Italian Embassy in Beirut.
In 1975 the civil war breaks out in Lebanon just as Seta begins teaching at the Lebanese University in Beirut.
She stays in Sri Lanka In a retreat center for ten month, and in 2006 lives in south India near Bangalore for a year and half.
In 2007 she meets Lama Chodak Gyatso Nubpa Rimpoche from the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism in LA.
2016 Seta Manoukian as Ani Pema Drolma is ready to paint again after ten years of full devotion to Buddhist teachings and practice.