In her first career, Victoria Veltri worked as a legal aid lawyer in Hartford.

Her early duties included representing tenants who were trying to get landlords to repair their apartments or return security deposits. Those battles sowed the seeds for future advocacy. “I realized raising public awareness could go a long way in solving problems,” said Veltri, who moved on to handling health care law for Greater Hartford Legal Aid before she was appointed Connecticut’s Healthcare Advocate in 2006.