"We're all people. We all want to thrive."
Originally published February 24, 2016, following coverage by CBS19 News. This story remains close to our hearts — a reflection of our roots, our mission, and the people who continue to shape our work.
“We’re All People. We All Want to Thrive.”
It’s been 12 years since Rivanna’s Kristina Constantine and Anelya Mkrtumova arrived in America with their parents. In this 2016 CBS19 segment, they shared their experiences as refugees and their hopes for the future.
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (CBS19): In the past 20 years, Charlottesville has accepted more than 3,000 refugees from dozens of countries.
The Syrian refugee crisis at the time caused many to examine the refugee process and what it means. At least two Syrian families had recently arrived in the Charlottesville area, and officials with the International Rescue Committee (IRC) said it was a welcoming place to begin again.
For Kristina Constantine and her family, that process began in 2004 when they fled their home in eastern Europe. Along with her parents, Margarita Konstantin and Armenak Mkrtumov, and her younger sister Anelya Mkrtumova, they were resettled in Charlottesville through the IRC.
"Our family is an Armenian family that lived in Russia for many years after ethnic conflict," Kristina explained. "It was that challenging time in the history of the Soviet Union that was coming to its end where a lot of ethnic conflicts were bursting out and people were in conflict everywhere."
"It was a situation that can be described as genocide against Armenians," added their mother, Margarita. "Like any mother, I wanted a happy future for my children."
IRC Executive Director Harriet Kuhr noted, “People don’t become refugees because of an earthquake or a tsunami or economic reasons. It’s legally defined as a reasonable fear of persecution.”
When Anelya arrived in Charlottesville at 16, she faced an entirely new world. “The challenge was language because I had no English,” she said of her first years at Charlottesville High School. Still, she described it as a small price to pay for the opportunity to start fresh. “My family went through so much hardship over the years, so for me it was like a fresh beginning.”
Both sisters eventually found work at Rivanna Natural Designs, a small business making award plaques and corporate gifts from environmentally responsible materials. For Kristina, a design school graduate, it was a perfect fit — but also a reflection of a mission rooted in shared experience.
"My boss is an amazing person," Kristina said of Rivanna founder and CEO Crystal Mario. "She started the business to create employment for recently arrived refugees."
"I couldn't ask for better employees," said Crystal at the time. "To give people an opportunity to get back on their feet — people who may have had very successful careers in the past or very promising futures that may have been cut short through circumstances completely beyond their control."
"Refugees are immigrants," said Anelya. "We’re all people, we all want to thrive, and if we just support each other and help each other, the world will become a different place."
Today, Kristina (now Kristina Schultz) is Rivanna’s principal designer. Her creative vision and lived experience continue to shape our work and reflect the values we care about most — inclusion, resilience, and purposeful design. We remain grateful for the opportunity to have worked with her family and for the ways their journey continues to inspire us.