I was born and raised in St. Petersburg, Russia. I have no known biological relatives or witnesses to my birth. I am a true orphan. Without any adult to care for me, I was committed to the Russian orphanage system. I was adopted at the age of ten. Security in my new home, however, soon turned into beatings and abuse. Running away from parents who wished me dead, I became one of St. Petersburg's street children until the courts allowed me back in the orphanage.

At age 15, I became a Christian as a result of interaction with Navigator missionaries working in St. Petersburg, Russia. Upon graduation from my orphanage in 1995, I began to serve American visitors as a streetwise guide to tourist attractions, as an interpreter, and as a gofer assisting mission teams and visitors in negotiating the idiosyncrasies of the Russian system.

I attended school in Tucson, Arizona as a guest of the Hughes family and served at a Navigator camp in Colorado in 1996. In 1997 I returned to the States for a six months chef's internship with the Greggs in California. In 2005 I received an Associate of Science magna cum laude diploma in Business Administration Management from Franklin University in Columbus, OH.

In 1998 I began to work on my own with orphans. Not long after my vision was encouraged by Mark and Melinda Cathey, long term missionaries in St. Petersburg in 1998. They teamed with me to establish, support, coordinate, and administrate The Harbor a ministry to orphans in St. Petersburg, Russia.

In 2001 I Co-Founded the Harbor, a ministry of CRM: http://www.crmleaders.org/ The Harbor, a ministry of CRM, is a unique program for orphans in St. Petersburg, Russia. Our mission is to be a refuge for the 98% of Russian orphans that don’t get adopted; to provide a safe place where they can discover their purpose in life, learn the skills to achieve that purpose, and experience the necessary healing to walk in that purpose.