After graduating from university in Russia and teaching English to undergraduate students at the Moscow Power Engineering Research University for six years, I moved to Columbia, South Carolina, to pursue graduate studies in Linguistics and Comparative Literature. I am now engaged in teaching professional communication as a Clinical Assistant Professor at the Darla Moore School of Business (University of South Carolina), and I also do research on language acquisition on our Columbia campus.

When I’m not researching or teaching, I enjoy hiking, working out in my favorite gym, exploring art and children’s world literature with my sixth-grade daughter, and traveling across the United States.