About Me

I was born in 1976 in a country that no longer exists. I had a happy and active childhood in the Soviet Union, growing up in a loving family of my father – a newspaper editor and my mom an engineer turned stay at home mom. My brother and I caused a lot of mischief by being young and creative. We played hockey, wrestled, went to summer camps and read a lot. Soviet Union has collapsed in 1991. I finished high school in 1993, and began my studies in one of Moscow’s universities. As the Soviet reality crumbled around our family life in Moscow has gotten hard and dangerous. Various minorities were constantly threatened and our family decided to leave Russia.

We came to the United States as a refugee family in 1994.  My first job was washing cars for Busy Bee Car wash under Miami sun. Since that first job I’ve worked as an electrician, baker, pizza delivery guy, warehouse worker, electronics technician, sales person, and a mid-level manager. I decided to give higher education a try and enrolled in Miami Dade Community College in the year 2000. Soon after, I discovered my passion for teaching and economics. I’ve transferred to Florida International University where I completed my Bachelors, Masters and Ph.D. degrees. I came back to Miami Dade College as a professor and taught there since 2007. Currently  I now hold a teaching job at Elizabethtown College