Meet our Team

Our Cofounders

  • Ani Schug

    REad Bio

    Ani Schug is a proud Armenian Diasporan by way of Philadelphia. A graduate of the local Armenian school, she has her Bachelor’s Degree from Pomona College in Politics and Middle Eastern Studies.

    Ani currently works at an immigrant and refugee non-profit in Philadelphia, PA as a DOJ Accredited Representative. She proudly represents and works alongside her clients to reunite with their families, become permanent residents, defend against deportation, or apply for citizenship. She speaks and has studied Armenian, Arabic, Spanish and Swahili. Ani also has experience creating and running community-based programs including language classes and after-school programs for a variety of ages. She has a newly growing interest in learning traditional Armenian embroidery and textile arts.

    Ani loves her work with Anoush on the Rerooted Archive as it has connected her with one of the strongest Armenian communities-the one that in fact printed the Armenian textbooks she learned from as a kid. She is eager for you to listen to the words of our narrators and re-examine topics such as Diaspora identity, gender, class, and minorities in the Middle East.

  • Anoush Baghdassarian

    Read Bio

    Anoush Baghdassarian is a proud Armenian with roots across the diaspora. She is a licensed attorney in New York and received her Juris Doctorate from Harvard Law School to work in international law.

    Anoush is currently clerking on the Second Circuit. Previously, as the Harvard Law School International Legal Studies Fellow, she served as a Visiting Professional at the International Criminal Court. Anoush received her Master’s in Human Rights Studies from Columbia University and holds a Bachelor's Degree from Claremont McKenna College in Psychology and Spanish with a sequence in Holocaust and Human Rights studies. She has served as an advisor to the Armenian Permanent Mission to the United Nations and as an intern at the Ombudsman Human Rights Defender’s Office in Yerevan, Armenia.

    Additionally, Anoush is a published author of a historical fiction play about the Armenian Genocide entitled FOUND which has been presented at book events around the world and produced for stage productions in New York and California. Anoush strongly believes in the power of storytelling and preserving history, so co-creating Rerooted with Ani has been one of the most meaningful experiences she has had.

Our Team

We are so thankful for the many contributions and hard work of our volunteers, interns, legal fellows, Birthright Armenia volunteers, and language transcription/translation team over the years.

Olivia Route

Astghik Hairapetian

Lida Asilyan

Guadalupe Loza-Mendez

Ilma Turcios

Hovsep Krikorian

Nareg Khoshafian

Zane Ravenholt

Shant Charoian

Annie Akkam

Rebekah Mills

Aleene Voskerijian

Narod Noramian

Collins Ruttoh

Hagop Kazanjian

Garen Balkhian

Alicia Ishkhanian

Matthew Ameduri

Caroline Megerian

Harut Margaryan

Mischa Gureghian-Hall

Mazelle Etessami

Sammy Behrends

Hannah Gerdes

Mtume Sangiewa

Shant Eulmessekian

Gillian Verali

Jessica Bielonko

Andre Festekjian

Taleen Baghdassarian

Sophie Baghdassarian

Elen Muradyan

Lilith Kharatian

Avo Aposhian

Arax Khochian

Sako Aprahamian

Nayira Baghdassarian

Alec Kayayan

Datev Araboghlian

Cristopher Patvakanian

Phoebe Kasparian

Andrew Musto

Anna Zainali

Amre Metwally

Shahen Araboghlian

Angela Daghlian

Natalie Chazoule

Akriti Poudel

Kristen Lu

Maude Ceruso

Lucine Poturyan

Valentina Gonzalez

Grant Thieroff

Michelle Ramirez

Miriam Farah

Gohar Khachatrian

Raya Sargsyan

Astghik Sargsyan

Meredith Lawrence

Arooshee Girotti

Jen Papazian

David Chibukhchian

Brigitta Davidjants

Gigi Manukyan

Jake Soria

Adriana Bones

Dickran Khodanian

Oorie Garabedian

Nanor Palandjian

Lory Sarkissian

Lilith Kharatian

Kyra Variyava

Patil HK

Lori Bohigian

Nareg Hanneyan

Lilit Khiat

Gomidas

Merjanian

Noushig Arakelian

Antranig Baghdassarian

Arin Boyadjian