‘I Didn’t Just Want to Hear Her Story — I Wanted to Be in It’

When Hripsime Matevosyan and Bessie Rose Jelin Schwarz were introduced over email in February 2021 by a mutual work colleague, Joe Morrison, it was to make a professional connection.

“Since we both founded tech startups that use A.I. to track natural disasters, Joe thought that we might be able to collaborate on projects,” Ms. Schwarz said. And “he suspected we would hit it off.”

Without knowing any personal details about each other, they set up a Zoom call and started chatting about their companies. They had instant synergy, they said.

“Bessie talked so passionately about her mission in her field, and I was blown away by her charm and energy,” Ms. Matevosyan, 33, who goes by Rema, said. “I knew right then that I didn’t just want to hear her story — I wanted to be in it.”

Ms. Schwarz, 39, was equally infatuated. “I had never met someone so immediately inspiring or warm,” she said.

Eventually, their conversation turned social, and the two discovered they lived in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn — across the street from each other, in fact.

“The coincidence was too much to ignore, and it was obvious we had to meet, so I asked Rema if she wanted to have a drink,” Ms. Schwarz said.

A week later, on Feb. 13, they met at a local bar, Branded Saloon, but were unclear if they were on a date. After chatting briefly about their startups, they shared their backgrounds and exchanged stories about their childhoods and adult lives. Ms. Matevosyan immigrated to New York from Armenia in 2017 and told Ms. Schwarz about her experience adjusting to life in a new country.

“On the surface, this was a work meeting, but I was mesmerized and impressed by Rema,” Ms. Schwarz said. “However, I wasn’t sure she was gay.”

“Bessie was even more spectacular in person than over Zoom, and our connection was intense,” Ms. Matevosyan said.

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Ms. Schwarz and Ms. Matevosyan stayed at the Branded Saloon until it closed, but neither wanted the night to end. They walked to Ms. Matevosyan’s apartment hand-in-hand. In front of the entry door to her apartment building, she invited Ms. Schwarz in.

While there and with “Spring” by Vivaldi playing in the background, they shared their first kiss. “It was the culmination of an evening where the attraction was getting stronger by the minute, and it sealed the deal of us being together,” Ms. Matevosyan said.

From that evening on, they were inseparable, chatting and texting all day and meeting up on evenings over takeout and restaurant dinners and at the Branded Saloon.

By mid-March, they were spending every night together at one of their two apartments, and in November, when Ms. Schwarz’s lease ended, she moved across the street to Ms. Matevosyan’s place, where they have lived ever since.

“I was sure by then that I would marry Rema, but neither of us was in a rush,” Ms. Schwarz said.

Ms. Matevosyan grew up in Yerevan, Armenia. She is the founder and chief executive of Near Space Labs, a company that uses artificial intelligence and robotics to capture high-resolution imagery of the Earth to assess the risk of natural disasters for insurance companies.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Yerevan State University and a master’s degree in mathematics and astrophysics from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.

Ms. Schwarz is from South Orange, N.J. She is a founder and the chief executive of Floodbase, a startup company that uses satellites and A.I. to track floods in real time and issue insurance payouts as soon as disaster strikes.

She graduated from Carleton College in Northfield, Minn., with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and environmental science. She also holds a master’s degree in environmental science from the Yale School of the Environment.

Ms. Matevosyan and Ms. Schwarz spent the next few years working six to seven days a week for 12-plus hour days. Still, they were sticklers about their weekly catch-up dates and regular vacations to destinations such as the Smoky Mountains; Telluride, Colo.; Paris; and the Swiss Alps.

On July 13, during a vacation to Barcelona, Spain, Ms. Schwarz proposed to Ms. Matevosyan atop Montjuïc mountain.

Just shy of six months later, the couple married on Jan. 10 before 12 guests at the Branded Saloon, where their romance began. Willa Schwarz, Ms. Schwarz’s sister, who was ordained for one day by New York City for the occasion, officiated.

In a nod to both their cultures, their ceremony incorporated Jewish and Armenian traditions, including standing under a huppah and placing their hands on a common pillow to symbolize that they will grow old together, a custom in Armenia.

Following their vows, Ms. Schwarz and Ms. Matevosyan hosted a dinner at their favorite Italian restaurant, Rucola, in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn. They sat at a communal table with their family and friends and feasted on pasta, fish and bottles of red wine. The evening continued with a party for 50 guests at Anaïs, a wine bar in Boerum Hill, and ended with a dance party until 5 a.m. at the Greenpoint, Brooklyn, nightclub Good Room.

“Everyone toasted and told stories about us, and there was lots of happy crying and laughing all night,” Ms. Matevosyan said. “It was an amazing and loving kickoff to our life ahead.”