Katya was a journalist covering politics and economics for over a decade before yielding to her passion for human rights. She now heads the communication unit at the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), where she is also spokesperson. Her focus is to put human rights and democracy at the centre of public debate, shedding jargon and endless bullet points in the process. She cut her communications teeth at the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights as a spokesperson and speechwriter, and after a brief spell at Frontex moved to the OSCE.

Katya graduated from Cambridge University with a BA in Russian and German, and thereafter did an MA at the Central European University in Society and Politics. She also holds a postgraduate diploma in International Journalism from City University.