Tiffany Terrell launched her non-profit in the months before Covid-19 hit, a seismic shift that put into fresh perspective the needs of her community and how she could solve them. Her organization, A Better Way Grocers, operates a mobile grocery store in Albany, GA, providing healthy and affordable food to underserved neighborhoods — which are particularly vulnerable to diet-related issues like high blood pressure and diabetes.
Terrell learned early on that access to healthy food does not immediately equate to people wanting it or understanding what to do with it. As a result, she expanded her service to provide nutrition programs and recipe cards that teach health literacy.
Her success is credited to the trust she’s built within the community: by showing up and meeting people where they are. “Food is cultural,” Terrell notes, pointing out that we grow up passing down recipes from generation to generation and have preconceived notions about what food is or isn’t part of our culture. Terrell respects this and teaches people ways of embracing healthy food options that still feel authentic to them.
She defines her time in the Big Bets Fellowship as one of growth, reflecting on the skills she learned from the training programs as well as from her fellow cohorts, “learning from them, watching their work, listening to some of their hardships and growth points…This experience has been invaluable, and I can’t wait to see what it further does for our organization.”
Her advice for others looking to make a Big Bet:
Stay true to who you are…You got to bet on yourself, and you got to keep your blinders on and run your race.
Tiffany TerrellCEO, A Better Way Grocers2025 U.S. Big Bets Fellow
When Marina Zhavoronkova’s family came to the United States in the ‘90s, they found public systems and community to support them while they found their footing. This has driven her path in workforce development over the years, as she aims to help others live out the American dream. “To me, the best of America is when you know there’s a community that can support you and that is what union programs and what all our programs do…It’s not just a job, it’s a group of people that will be there for you.”
Zhavoronkova is now the Executive Director at TradesFutures, a non-profit that develops apprenticeship readiness programs to create pathways to union construction jobs. Her Big Bet aims to expand access to these programs that offer stable, competitive pay and a pathway to the middle class.
She acknowledges the all-consuming nature of this work and credits the Big Bets Fellowship program for allowing her time to slow down and reimagine how she can make the work more impactful. The diversity and expertise of the other Fellows was equally valuable: “I’ve learned a lot from other people and the way they’ve grown their organizations, and I’ve gotten a lot of feedback and partnerships that I wouldn’t have expected through my own natural professional cohort.”
Her advice to others looking to make a Big Bet:
Bringing the same people together again and again, there’s a limit to how far you can go, whereas...bringing in new partners who we would never consider for this work, we have a far larger opportunity ahead.
Marina ZhavoronkovaExecutive Director, TradesFutures2025 U.S. Big Bets Fellow
Melissa Bukuru is fascinated by work: what makes people excited to go to work and what motivates them to excel. Her role at Ownership Works allows her to focus on this mission by helping companies create employee ownership programs in corporate America and beyond, with the goal of positively impacting 100,000 workers by 2030. Her Big Bet advances the financial inclusion, wellbeing, and security of workers — something she argues is not only a good thing to do but good for business. “Employees who are less financially stressed are more loyal,” Bukuru asserts.
Bukuru is finishing the four-month Fellowship program inspired and grateful for the experience and community she’s built. “To me, community is big and partnerships are big, and having the chance to spend time with 10 other people who have walked the same paths and have the same questions has been amazing.”
Her advice to others looking to make a Big Bet:
The first thing they should do is find community, find partners, and start calling people. When you’re done with that call, tell them to introduce you to the next five people. A lot of these big ideas are ambitious and exciting, but you can’t do it in isolation.
Melissa BukuruAssociate Director, Financial Inclusion and Resilience, Ownership Works2025 U.S. Big Bets Fellow
These three Fellows represent just a glimpse of the bold work happening across the Big Bets community. While their missions differ, they share a common thread: that transformational change doesn’t happen in isolation. Through the Fellowship, they’ve found not just skills and strategy, but a lasting network of peers who understand the challenges, celebrate the wins, and continue pushing forward together.
