I got my start in writing as a journalist and a college instructor of composition, journalism, and English as a Second Language. My work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Literary Hub, The Los Angeles Times, Parents, Scary Mommy, and others, winning awards from the New York Press Association. I hold graduate degrees in Comparative Literature from the City University of New York Graduate Center and in Communications from Georgetown University.

​

As a communications professional, I have developed communications strategies and written content for nonprofits, technology companies working to combat climate change, and the government (U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force). 

​

My part-memoir, part-research book about immigrant families was published by Beacon Press on Nov. 30, 2021, with the paperback out on Oct. 4, 2022. I'm represented by the Robin Straus Literary Agency. I was born in the former Soviet Union and now live in California with my family and a buckwheat-loving dwarf hamster.