


While I spent most of my life in Ohio, I'm a California girl at heart. The ocean, wineries, and beautiful parks are my happy place!
I was born in Baku, Azerbaijan, and my family emigrated to the United States when I was 8 years old, and we ended up settling in Northeast Ohio, in a small town on the shores of Lake Erie. That's when I learned to speak English (though I continued to speak my native Russian at home).
I discovered my love for journalism at a young age. My persistent curiosity, love for hearing people's stories, and passion for learning and sharing the news of world events were what made me want to become a reporter. I studied journalism and political science at Kent State University in Ohio and summers interning for C-SPAN, a U.S. senator and the Voice of America in one of my favorite cities, Washington D.C.
I began my professional career hosting a civic-focused news program on PBS. My next job as a traffic reporter at WBNS News in Columbus, Ohio was the beginning of a 15-year long career at WBNS, first working my way up to a general assignment reporter and, ultimately, to the weekday morning anchor. I truly enjoyed becoming a part of the community, and I'm particularly proud of my fact-checking stories as part of the VERIFY team's efforts to stop the spread of misinformation. I was honored to win an Emmy for the breaking news coverage of a massive train derailment, spending a total of 7 hours that day in the helicopter, shooting video and reporting on the disaster.
During my 15 years in Columbus, I loved spending time volunteering and emceeing events for a number of nonprofit organizations. I'm a proud big sister for Big Brothers Big Sisters, was on the board of Columbus Fashion Council and Fairy Goodmothers. In my free time, I enjoy being outdoors as much as possible and had the incredible position as the Metro Parks spokesperson, helping people discover nature and all there is to do at the public parks. I'm excited to discover all of the parks in Northern California and take my paddleboard out on the water! Feel free to check out all of my fun adventures on my social media pages.
If you run into me on the street, please say hi! I'll gladly talk for hours about some of my favorite things, like traveling the world, eating delicious food (I would love to hear your Bay Area restaurant recommendations) and seeing my adorable nieces and nephews!