karina@patch.com

707-766-8110

Hometown: San Ramon, Calif.

Birthday: July 20

Karina was born in Latvia, grew up in the East Bay and attended UC Santa Cruz and City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. Her journalism experience includes working for the Arizona Daily Star in Tucson, the Stockton Record, the Associated Press in Moscow and Reuters in New York. Karina speaks Russian and Spanish and has lived in various Latin American countries.

When Karina is not busy running PetalumaPatch, she enjoys biking, dancing and gardening. She is also a mentor with Mentor Me Petaluma and volunteers at the Petaluma Animal Shelter.

Beliefs: I became a journalist because I believe everyone has a story to tell and I have spent my career cataloging some wild ones, from the African man who wanted to be Russia's Obama to teenage refuseniks in Cuba. I believe that the more we know about one another, the more we see our similarities, even if we happen to vote for different parties or attend different houses of worship.

I am a Democrat, whose core values are family, education and giving back to the world.