YEREVAN, Armenia — For the American University of Armenia (AUA) Master of Business Administration (MBA) alumna Tsovo Yenokyan Massena (MBA ’15), her connection to the University runs deeper than her own years as a student. With both of her parents as AUA graduates, the University was part of her family story long before she stepped onto campus. Today, as she joins the 200 ChangeMakers Campaign, she continues that story by investing in the institution that helped shape her family and her own path. “I love my university, and I want to see it thrive,” she said. “I know what AUA is worth, to me, and to Armenia’s future. Being a ChangeMaker is how you go from loving a place to standing behind it,” she noted.
Her time at AUA’s MBA program gave her the opportunity to put ideas into practice long before she received her diploma. One of her most memorable experiences was launching Cupcake Place, a business that she and her friend Mariana Bulbulyan turned from their MBA final project into the first cupcake bakery/café in Armenia.
During her second year, she was balancing intensive MBA classes, a full-time job, and testing recipes. “It was wild, it was unforgettable, and it was the best real-world lesson I could have asked for,” Tsovo recalled. More importantly, the experience reinforced a mindset that has stayed with her throughout her career. “It proved that you don’t have to wait until you graduate to start building. I have always had an entrepreneurial mindset, but AUA gave me the practical framework to execute on it: how to evaluate a business model, analyze data, and manage the daily operational grind,” she added.
After graduating from AUA, Tsovo continued developing her expertise in strategic marketing and sharpened her skills in market positioning that would later become a major advantage in her commercial real estate career. When she and her husband, Andrew, began investing in property, she realized that gaining an edge meant going beyond simply investing from the outside. She wanted to become an industry insider.
Currently, she is a commercial real estate advisor and investor at Sequoia Commercial Group, where she brings together strategic marketing and deep real estate investment analysis to offer clients a holistic, owner-minded approach to building their portfolios. “I don’t just ‘sell’ property. I underwrite every opportunity through the eyes of an owner,” she said.
Her professional journey has also taught her that, despite the rise of AI and automation, some things cannot be replaced by technology. “Commercial real estate is fundamentally a relationship business,” she mentioned. For her, that means picking up the phone, having difficult conversations, and cultivating relationships with stakeholders. That high-touch approach, she believes, remains irreplaceable.
Tsovo’s understanding of the transformative power of AUA began at home. When the Soviet Union collapsed, her parents had to rebuild their lives from scratch, and AUA became a bridge into a new reality for them.
Her father, Aghasi Yenokyan (MBA ’94), went on to build a prominent career as a journalist and media leader, while her mother, Narine Badanian (MBA ’96), became her ultimate role model. “At a time when female CEOs were rare in Armenia, she rose from sales at Coca-Cola to CEO of Pepsi, Ashtarak Kat, and Armenia Wine,” she said.
That legacy shaped the way she understood AUA and the opportunities an education at the University could create. “I grew up seeing what quality education made possible long before I set foot on campus. Our family understands the power of that legacy, and becoming a ChangeMaker is simply my turn to pay it forward.”
Now living in the United States, Tsovo sees supporting AUA as one of the most direct ways she can maintain a meaningful connection to Armenia. For her, supporting the University makes that connection tangible. It means helping ensure that another student in Yerevan can enter the same classrooms that changed the direction of her own family. “In a country as small as Armenia, every AUA graduate is one more person with the tools to build something at home. That compounds,” she noted.
For Tsovo, becoming a ChangeMaker is about more than making a contribution. It is about choosing to actively participate in AUA’s future. “What matters to me is that my husband Andrew and I are part of it, rather than watching from the outside,” she explained. That is why she sees giving back as something much bigger than philanthropy. “Giving back doesn’t feel like writing a check. It feels like having a stake in what Armenia becomes,” she emphasized.
Her commitment to AUA also extends to the community that comes with an AUA education. A few years ago, she hosted an AUA alumni gathering at her home in the United States. “Hosting that gathering was about bringing a piece of the AUA spirit to California,” she recalled. “We had alumni spanning decades who had never crossed paths before, and within minutes everyone was swapping stories and bonding over shared experiences and legendary professors,” she added.
For her, that is an important part of what makes the AUA experience lasting. “An AUA degree should come with people attached — so that wherever a graduate lands, someone is already there,” she highlighted. By joining the 200 ChangeMakers, Tsovo is helping strengthen that environment for the next generation, just as AUA once did for her parents, for her, and for the many alumni whose stories continue to shape the University’s legacy.
Founded in 1991, the American University of Armenia (AUA) is a private, independent university located in Yerevan, Armenia, affiliated with the University of California, and accredited by the WASC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC) in the United States. AUA provides local and international students with Western-style education through top-quality undergraduate and graduate degree and certificate programs, promotes research and innovation, encourages civic engagement and community service, and fosters democratic values.
