Irina

Irina, my cousin,  is one of my heroes. From the first day I met her I could feel her love and have always been drawn to the special light she shines. Everyone agrees with this.  

When she was thirteen years old our family suffered a huge tragedy when her father, a dentist and refugee from Russia was murdered in front of her in Downtown LA during a drug deal gone wrong, a drug deal he had nothing to do with. 

I wasn’t born when that happened but ever since I’ve known her she’s been only caring, kind, thoughtful, emotionally smart, and nurturing to everyone she loves, and she loves many many people. 

Last year she began to mentor me and has been instilling her passion for goodness in me ever since. She is a no-nonsense, unconditionally committed, loving, busy woman. We all know there is something special about her and I am grateful for her to be immersed in my life now. She believes I have something special to offer the world as well, like her. I grew up with a busy mom trying to make ends meet as a refugee herself and have felt somewhat alienated from my larger family. I’m so grateful to be taken into the fold.  

I watch with awe as she gracefully navigates being in the middle of a huge career shift which champions her true passion in holistic health. For the past few years she has been developing a mindfulness practice and her sincerity has drawn many clients. She believes that there are alternative approaches to allopathic medicine because it only has some of the answers. She teaches self-awareness, breath work, yoga, nutrition, the valuable power of routine, inner child talk, and radical self love but not self-complacency. 

Having followed her passion she is also realizing she wants to work with kids so she developed a company called Kidwise Nutrition that not only creates wonderfully healthy, delicious meals for kids with busy parents but she also tackles the difficult issues of picky eaters and she is truly a genius when it comes to getting kids and adults to better their lives. She also holds free weekly grief groups for parents who have lost children. She turns grief into something meaningful.