Global Visionaries: Kristina Pogosian

The Office of Global Affairs is excited to celebrate Kristina Pogosian for our October 2024 edition of the Global Visionaries series. The Global Visionaries series highlights the UW’s global impact by featuring innovative, globally-engaged faculty, staff, students and alumni.

Kristina Pogosian, Class of 2022, graduated from UW Tacoma with a Bachelor’s degree in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics with a focus in International Studies. Before becoming a Husky, she earned an Associate’s degree in Business from Tacoma Community College. During Kristina’s studies at the UW, she served as a policy consultant with the Washington Student Achievement Council, a session aide with the Washington State Senate and as founder and chair of Washington’s Armenian Church Youth Organization. Kristina was also appointed by Governor Inslee to the UW Board of Regents, becoming only the second UW Tacoma student to hold the position.

Kristina shares about traveling through twenty-two countries after graduation, her plans for her future career and how she spreads awareness about Armenian history and culture through public speaking, political advocacy and community organizing.

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I studied International Studies because the intersection between history, politics, and sociology fascinates me. What I didn’t realize at the time, however, was how heavily the courses would impact my journey abroad. For example, studying sovereignty fed my curiosity to cross borders between countries on foot. I witnessed how contrasting worlds exist side by side, simply because the global community believes in imaginary lines drawn on the earth. Similarly, courses on indigenous history and international human rights inspired me to research indigeneity across continents. From the Coptic communities in Egypt, the Khmer people of Cambodia, to the aboriginal communities in Australia, I met descendants of history’s survivors who generously shared their family stories with me. My studies also taught the nuances of major world religions, and how followers of any given belief can’t be categorized monolithically. Whether a state proclaimed Hinduism, Buddhism, or an Abrahamic faith, I observed how individual approaches differed not only between countries, but also between regions within a country. In other words, my major taught me the facts and theories of such topics. During my travels abroad, I saw the real life application of everything I learned.

It was an honor to directly influence the university’s policy development, strategic planning, and financial oversight, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. I became the first student to ever join meetings for UW Medicine’s Advisory Board, the Advisory Committee on Real Estate, and UW’s Investment Management Company. These bodies addressed important issues like distributing COVID-19 vaccines, developing capital projects, and maintaining the university’s endowment for student scholarships. I also regularly held townhalls with student governments across UW’s three campuses, where I shared updates, answered questions, and incorporated their perspectives in my work.

Thanks to the guidance of UW’s executive leaders, I developed a strong grasp on the institution’s governance structure. This enabled me to guide environmental advocates with a plan on encouraging UW to divest from fossil fuels. These efforts successfully drove the Board of Regents to approve divesting in fossil-fuel companies by 2027, while committing to investing at least 2.5% of the endowment into climate-solutions companies.

Another meaningful project was researching student experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. I partnered with UW’s Polling and Open Data Initiative, a student-run data analysis organization, to release a tri-campus survey and analyze over 3,700 student responses. I presented our findings to UW’s Board of Regents, focusing on student attitudes towards remote learning: what was challenging, what was helpful, and which newly-adopted practices should continue in a post-pandemic world. I also sent these recommendations to UW’s Center for Teaching & Learning to incorporate into their pedagogical resources for faculty.

The opportunity to serve UW, our students and greater community was incredibly rewarding. By working alongside dedicated leaders, my term resulted in positive impacts for our community and leadership development that I carry to this day.

In Washington State, I was born into an immigrant family. I spoke Armenian at home, joined Holy Resurrection Armenian Apostolic Church, and grew involved in Seattle’s community. Many Armenians here —like my father— arrived as refugees from the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, escaping Azerbaijan’s massacres against them in the late 80s and early 90s. The history of Washington’s Armenians, however, is unique to us. Each community that formed around the world has its own origins of survival and perseverance.

After graduating from UW Tacoma, I decided to search for Armenian diasporas across Europe, Asia, and the Middle East by traveling through twenty-two countries. Armenians around the world showed me how their communities formed, how they preserve our culture outside the homeland, and how diverse our identity really is. I was able to find most communities by visiting each country’s Armenian Apostolic Church, which serves as a spiritual, cultural, and community center for Armenians around the world.

In Germany, I met Turkish-speaking Armenians whose families sought refuge after the 1915 Armenian Genocide. They invited me to Germany’s annual Christmas festival, Weihnachtsmarkt, eagerly showing me traditional cuisines, music, and crafts of German culture. Across the Levant, I met Arabic-speaking Armenians who also survived the 1915 Armenian Genocide. They invited me to eat Levantine food and dance dabke, both of which are influenced by Arab culture. In Kazakhstan, I met Armenians who arrived for economic opportunities during the Soviet Union. Together, we spoke Russian, ate Slavic food, and listened to music with Russian lyrics. While culturally influenced by their host country, each person was also strong and proud in their Armenian identity. They preserve our culture by practicing our nation’s 1700 year old liturgy, running Armenian dance and language schools, and organizing programs to stay united as a community.

Meeting Armenians around the globe taught me that, though we are a small population, we are incredibly diverse. As someone who always simply identified as Armenian, this experience also opened my eyes to how I was influenced by living in the United States. It also inspired me to search for the nuances within any culture around the world, no matter how big or small the population is.

I wanted to experience life outside touristic sites, and I wanted to understand what truly exists between a country’s big cities. With just a bicycle to ride, a tent to sleep in, and gear stuffed into three bags, my solo journey immersed me in remote deserts, mountains, and villages of all sizes. From Morocco to Jordan to Kyrgyzstan, I pedaled hundreds of miles through places I knew nobody in and little about. This led me to deep connections with people around the globe, who opened my eyes to the nuances of each country’s culture and everyday life.

This is what happened, for example, when I got stuck in Kyrgyzstan’s mountains. Kyrgyzstan is a Turkic, Muslim, ex-Soviet country in Central Asia, where Russian is still taught as a second language. I communicated with everyone across this land because, due to Armenia’s own Soviet history, I also know Russian. While I cycled to an alpine lake, a middle-aged woman appeared alone on an empty field. This shocked me because, for dozens of miles, I saw nobody and nothing but snow-capped mountain ranges. Her name was Bakulya and, like most of the country’s population, she was native to Kyrgyzstan. We walked over to her family’s dwelling, surrounded by their herded sheep and horses. She invited me into their home, called a yurt. Traditional to the Kyrgyz nomadic lifestyle, it was made of bent wooden poles, covered by a canvas, all of which they easily disassembled when ready to move. Bakulya, her husband and his extended family welcomed me with soup and meat from their pastured lambs. After chatting for hours in Russian, they set up a cot with layers of quilts for me to sleep in. In the morning, we woke up freezing. The field of grass from the day before was now completely covered in snow. I wondered what would’ve happened to me had I not met Bakulya, had her family not welcomed me in, and had I slept in my tent outside.

I couldn’t cycle through the aftermath of that night’s blizzard, so Bakulya’s family kept me for an additional two days. In this time, she taught me how to milk their horses, sterilize and drink the milk, then cut horse hair and braid it into rope. Seated by the wood burner, Bakulya shared stories about her life. She described memories of living through the Soviet Union and experiencing its collapse in 1991. At 17 years old, like many girls in rural Kyrgyzstan, Bakulya was kidnapped and forced into marriage. She expressed happiness, however, for the life she built with her husband. This included raising children who, as adults, left nomadism for Kyrgyzstan’s bustling city life. By cycling through countries, I traded discomfort and uncertainty for serendipity like this. The generous kindness of people, like Bakulya, immersed me into life in the most unexpected ways. These are important parts of a country that I was able to see by traveling on bicycle.

I spread awareness through public speaking, political advocacy, and community organizing. In different countries, I reached out to universities and organizations that hosted me as a guest speaker. It was incredibly rewarding to connect with local audiences around our world, from Morocco to Kazakhstan to Australia. My presentations highlighted the Armenian communities I visited across continents, explaining how each one formed and how they preserve our culture. I also shared family stories, like my grandparents’ imprisonment in Soviet forced labor camps, my father’s escape from massacres in Azerbaijan, and my own experience as an Armenian woman raised in the United States. During the presentations, I facilitated group discussions and asked questions like, “How do you define your identity?”, “Which cultural differences exist between you and your grandparents?”, and “What is something about your life today that would make your ancestors proud?” While sharing my own heritage, these discussions also helped me understand the history, culture, and everyday life of the people hosting me.

Back in Washington, I co-chair our state’s chapter for the Armenian Assembly of America. We meet with elected officials to advocate for aiding Artsakh refugees, releasing prisoners of war in Azerbaijan, and increasing education for the 1915 Armenian Genocide. We also help organize the annual Armenian Festival of Seattle, showcasing our culture to over 1,000 visitors across the Pacific Northwest. Previously, I helped found and chair Washington’s Armenian Church Youth Organization, which established Seattle’s only network of Armenian young adults through social and cultural programming. Since then, I joined the choir at Holy Resurrection Armenian Apostolic Church in Redmond. This is the only Armenian Apostolic Church in Washington State, where we observe our nation’s 1700-year-old Liturgy.

From legislative advocacy, community organizing, to cultural preservation, these achievements are only possible through our community’s strong teamwork. I am very fortunate to be a part of this effort to keep our culture alive, in and outside of our homeland.

I am excited to continue my education and career goals, all while serving our community. Along with the leadership experience I gained through the University of Washington, my perspective was shaped immensely by experiencing life in 22 countries. Traveling by bicycle helped me become courageous and comfortable with uncertainty. Immersing myself in different cultures helped me become adaptable, understanding of norms different from mine, and aware of what diversity looks like outside the American context. It also gave me an opportunity to form deep connections with people, regardless of language barriers or cultural differences. Connecting with Armenian diasporas helped me better understand myself, as well as the nuance that exists among immigrant communities in the United States. These experiences equip me to conquer new challenges. They also inspire me to advocate for cultural competence that’s not just a mere toleration, but a sincere embrace. My goal is to continue applying these lessons in my journey, as I go to law school in the future. Until then, I am staying involved in Seattle’s Armenian community, offering speaking engagements, and writing a book about my journey abroad.