"She pulled me aside on my birthday" - Serena Williams' husband Alexis Ohanian uncovers "trauma" and Armenian great-aunt's message that shaped him

Serena Williams' husband, Alexis Ohanian, shared a piece of advice his great-aunt gave him that shaped him as a person. Ohanian also claimed that hailing from a family with Armenian heritage instilled a sense of responsibility in him at a tender age.

Ohanian's grandparents came to the US as refugees of the Armenian Genocide (the systemic destruction of millions of Armenian people during a death march, implemented by the Committee of Union and Progress). When the tech mogul was young, the family moved to a Maryland neighborhood where they were the only Armenians. Serena Williams' husband attended the AGBU-hosted summer camps to stay close to his roots.

From a young age, he developed a knack for computer applications. His entrepreneurship journey started in college, where he took his first business steps in the build-up to an empire.

In a recent interview with Hot 97, Serena Williams' husband offered a peak into his life as a refugee and how a piece of advice from his great-aunt shaped him into what he is today.

"I'm so much more captivated by the story of someone who triumphs in the face of all the bullshit. My birthday is April 24th, the anniversary of the genocide. My great-aunt Vera, she pulled me aside on my 5th or 6th birthday, and she said, 'Look, let me tell you the story of your family and the responsibility you have to make the most out of this life. Because a lot of people sacrificed and dealt with unspeakable things. And they endured, and they triumphed, and you need to do great things. And then happy birthday.'"

"It grounded me in a really impactful way that, like, I'm probably still carrying some elements of that trauma, but it was so formative for me," he added.

Serena Williams' husband Alexis Ohanian once shared how his first job helped a lot with building confidence

Ohanian at the Women's Sports Foundation's 2022 Annual Salute To Women In Sports Gala - (Source: Getty)

Serena Williams' husband had a humble career beginning, working as a software and hardware demonstrator in a company. His daily interaction with the customers unintentionally built his confidence in public speaking which later helped him succeed in business.

In his X post, Ohanian reflected on his struggles as an acne-prone teenager, living a life farther away from glamour but slowly building himself for the future.

"My first real job was a company called SIDEA, and it was a company that was hired by CompUSA to put on in-store demos of software, hardware, peripherals," Serena Williams' husband explained. "So imagine I was like 14 years old, going through puberty, acne, and voice cracking. Basically lived the worst public speaking experience over and over and over again until my shift ended. No one in a CompUSA wanted to hear some pimply dork."

"It was incredibly helpful for building my confidence, building Reddit. People would always ask, ‘Oh my god, you're so comfortable on stage. How?’ I got those 10,000 hours in while I was in high school," he added.

Alexis Ohanian's advocacy for women in sports is appreciated globally. He invested significantly in women's sports, even co-owning an NWSL team and hosting a women-only track event with a huge prize purse.