True Grit
In a tight-knit Armenian enclave in Lowell, Massachusetts, Richard Juknavorian ’95 (CLAS) grew up surrounded by a community of fierce matriarchs, immigrant mothers who juggled full-time jobs while keeping their families intact. “A lot of these women escaped the 1915 Armenian genocide and thrived in America against all odds,” he says. This early exposure to female resilience laid the foundation for his podcast, “Meeting You Where You’re At,” in which Juknavorian talks to trailblazers, visionaries, and change-makers who draw from a similar well of uncompromising grit. These women are taking action and driving real impact — as advocates for child internet safety, nonprofit leaders uplifting women’s causes, and champions of gender pay equity. Selecting just 10 standouts from his more than 90 insightful episodes to date was no easy feat for Juknavorian, but a common thread binds his picks together. These women don’t just dream of changing the world — they do it.
By Tommi Lewis Tilden
Illustrations by Kyle Hilton
Richard’s Top 10 Guests
1. Cristina Torres: Opening Up About Grief, Episode 32
A business and brand content coach, Cristina describes herself as a “first-generation Dominican daughter, single parent, style enthusiast, and widow.” What I didn’t realize before we spoke was that her husband, who had encouraged her to leave her day job and start her own company, had died just eight months earlier. She was grieving deeply and so vulnerable and open about her loss.
2. Professor Rita Colwell: Doyenne of Science, Episode 41
I felt like I earned a microbiology degree after talking to Professor Colwell. I was intimidated — I mean, she was the first female director of the National Science Foundation! She’s 89 years old, and I always ask my interviewees about who their community is, who their people are. It floored me when she responded, “Oh, my posse?” Now that’s how I refer to it, too.
3. Angelique Albert: Champion of Native Scholars, Episode 74
Angelique was raised on the Flathead Indian Reservation in Northwest Montana and talked about how she grew up with a value system that focused not just on her but on being part of a community. Her focus has always been on elevating tribal communities: Angelique’s Native Forward Scholars Fund has given almost half a billion dollars to thousands of native scholars to pursue degrees!
4. Betty Francisco: A Powerhouse in Impact Investing, Episode 39
I don’t think you’ll find a bigger advocate for social entrepreneurship than Betty Francisco. Betty embodies everything powerful, and she’s unapologetic. She shared how she came from a working-class family where sometimes her mother couldn’t work because she had mental health issues. She clearly understands the barriers people face.
5. Hayley Segar ’17 (CLAS): Making Waves in Swimwear, Episode 25
I think Hayley’s show being one of our top-downloaded podcasts is a testament to her charisma. She’s been single-minded in her approach to creating onewith: a brand of swimwear for women that fits like underwear. Hayley credits the support she received from Jennifer Mathieu at CCEI [see #6] along with her business advisor from the Connecticut Business Development Center for being “angel human beings” and getting her to where she is today. She and onewith have a huge viral following, and her suits were just featured in People magazine. She’s blowing up and is completely unencumbered and unafraid.
6. Jennifer Mathieu ’09 (CLAS), ’23 MBA: Startup Dynamo, Episode 20
As executive director of the Connecticut Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CCEI), Jennifer’s helped people launch and grow hundreds of businesses. What people may not know is that she’s also a successful entrepreneur herself. She started and ran several businesses before turning to education and mentorship. One was jewelry that came with inspirational cards. It started as a side hustle, but she turned it into a successful business.
7. Stephanie Wong: A Personal Touch of Inspiration, Episode 31
Stephanie’s been a writer/creator of several Google YouTube series, the voice behind “Google Cloud Platform Podcast,” a dancer, a beauty pageant winner, a community ambassador, a mentor, and an angel investor for women in technology. She has a huge social media presence, so when I approached her to be on the show, I wasn’t sure she’d do it. It was at the height of the pandemic, and my daughter had just graduated from high school. Everything was canceled, like graduations and proms. I’ll never forget how Stephanie recorded an inspirational video message to my daughter during such a hard time.
8. Isabella Mandis: Venture Visionary, Episode 48
Isabella, wow — I mean to be a 20-year-old undergraduate and not just recognize the problem of underrepresentation of women in venture capital but to kick down that door and do something about it! She said she was 13 when she learned that women get only 2% of venture capital funding — and later decided to change the paradigm by starting Girls into VC. At first I thought, Oh, this must be a club she started at Harvard, but I was so wrong! It’s a full-fledged organization, providing targeted education, resources, and mentorship to empower the next gen of young women leaders in venture capital. She has thousands of members!
9. Tamika Bickham: Passion Pivot, Episode 62
The most interesting thing about Tamika is that she had an extremely lucrative career as an on-air personality and was winning awards as a broadcast journalist. Then she gave it all up to start a video and content marketing agency focused on health and happiness brands. There was significant risk associated with that pivot, but she’s one example of women on my show who’ve reached that same inflection point — leaving successful corporate careers to pursue what they truly want to do.
10. Sarah Gardner: Putting the Heat on Child Abuse, Episode 59
With her Heat Initiative, Sarah’s leading the charge to remove child sex abuse materials from the internet and social media platforms. She’s bravely gone straight after Apple, holding them accountable for their inaction. She drives trucks with huge signs saying, “Child sexual abuse is stored on iCloud. Apple allows it.” Apple’s her target because if they change their policy, the hope is that others will follow.
Fun Fact: Naming Rights
In 2022 and 2023, Juknavorian was invited to be a name reader at UConn’s College of Liberal Arts and Science’s commencement ceremonies, which he admits can be a daunting task given some of the unfamiliar names of the graduates. “They give you cards with phonetic descriptions of the names,” Juknavorian reveals, “but even that can be tricky. So sometimes I’d ask the graduates to whisper their correct name pronunciation to me before they’d go up on stage.”
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