How One Woman Strengthens Marriages through Reflection: GIVEN Alumna Ali Null “If you want to bring happiness to the world, go home and love your family.” - St. Teresa of Calcutta In June 2025, Pope Leo XIV stated that marriage is, “not an ideal but the measure of true love between a [...]
How One Woman Inspires Evangelization through Beauty: GIVEN Alumna Elisa Torres Bishop Robert Barron once said, “Beauty is the arrowhead of evangelization, the point with which the evangelist pierces the minds and hearts of those he evangelizes.” GIVEN ’22 alumna Elisa Torres has a similar mindset as she describes herself as a [...]
How One Woman Encourages Women to Find Healing: GIVEN Alumna Silvia Ordoñez “Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be healed of your affliction.” -- Mark 5:34 According to a 2024 Gallup report, more than 6 in 10 women find it difficult to prioritize their health in the United [...]
How One Woman Inspires Liturgical Living: GIVEN Alumna Tasha Gordon “Be who God made you to be, and you will set the world on fire.” -- Saint Catherine of Siena Living liturgically is an aspect of the faith that is very special to GIVEN alumna, Tasha Gordon. By observing the Church’s liturgical [...]
How One Woman Is Helping Trauma Survivors Find Healing: GIVEN Alumna Abby Albrinck The Church is often looked to as a place of healing for spiritual and emotional wounds and this responsibility comes from Christ Himself. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: “‘Heal the sick!’ The Church has received this charge from [...]
9 Years Later, GIVEN Mentor and Mentee Team up to Lead 100 Women: GIVEN Alumna Sam Kelley Sr. Mary Louise, OCD remembers sitting in the grass of the Catholic University of America lawn during the first GIVEN women’s forum in 2016, as her small group participant Samantha Kelley, described the new call to start a [...]
How One Woman Is Promoting Cultural Renewal by Preventing Euthanasia and Encouraging Hope: GIVEN Alumna Amanda Achtman “In this way the undestroyed dignity and majesty of woman are expressed. She preserves the mystery of life, the power opposed to death.” – Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Daughter Zion: Meditations on the Church’s Marian Belief As [...]
Location: Fargo, ND Job Title: Director of Mission Outreach Organization: Down Home Education: University of Mary Degree: Business Administration, BS, MBA Emily Kaiser, GIVEN '21 Please share a little about yourself - feel free to include a fun fact! I grew up in Moorhead, MN and graduated from the University of Mary with both my Bachelors [...]
Location: Tulsa, OK Job Title: Artist & Business Owner Organization: Tara Wright Studio Education: University of Oklahoma Degree: Bachelor of Journalism, Advertising Tara Wright, GIVEN '16 Please share a little about yourself - feel free to include a fun fact! Hi! I'm Tara. I'm an artist, illustrator, small business owner, and award-winning writer and creator. More [...]
Location: New York, NY Job Title: Director of Formation Organization: Seton Teaching Fellows Education: University of Maryland-College Park Degree: Chemical Engineering Emilia Tanu Chornay, GIVEN '19 Please share a little about yourself - feel free to include a fun fact! I am a wife and mother of two young children, living and working in NYC. I [...]
