I was born in Moscow, Russia, but went to school in Prague. I graduated from Moscow State University with Bachelor of Arts in Education (teaching Russian as a second language). I also completed my Paralegal Degree here in US, at Pulaski Technical College in Little Rock, AR. My husband, David, was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA. At the time we met, he was working in Moscow. David currently serves in the position of Staff Completions Engineer at Alta Mesa Holdings in Houston, TX. He has over 35 years of extensive domestic and international experience in well completion and well stimulation design and execution.

We had our first son, George, in 2006 and our second son, John, in 2008. We moved to Cypress in 2009 and instantly fell in love with the area. We knew this was a great place to raise our children. A few years later in 2010, our youngest son, John, was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (PDD-Nos), Sensory Processing Disorder, and Apraxia of Speech. Each new diagnosis felt like we fell back to the bottom of the valley and were struggling to climb back up the mountain. Looking back, our feet may have been unsteady, and we definitely had a few twists and turns on our journey, but we never fell down. Each diagnosis gave us more tools to reach the top and introduced us to new people who joined our journey. We started occupational therapy (OT), and when John was receiving OT multiple times per week, the gains were tremendous. Everyday activities became easier for our rigid, anxious, and distracted child, but John still needed daily accesses to a safe, sensory-filled environment where he could seek out and receive the sensory input that his neurological system desperately needs to reach optimal regulation to learn and grow.

When John grew older we needed to find safe places for him to play and interact with his brother and other kids, which proved to be very challenging. I learned about We Rock The Spectrum Kid’s Gym on Facebook when I was scrolling through my news feeds. I saw the our ABA clinic had shared that it had participated in open play at We Rock The Spectrum in California and I was interested in learning more. Looking back I can recall that words “Rock the Spectrum” caught my attention most, and I started searching and ended up spending my entire night learning about We Rock The Spectrum. I was so excited to learn about “the place where you never have to say sorry.” I remember crying because seeing those eight words meant so much to me. Reading them brought back the memories and emotions that I know every parent with a child on the spectrum can relate to when you’re in a public place and your child just can’t handle it — the sensory overload, lights, music, noise. It was such a relief to see others understood and that finally there was a place where we never had to say sorry for our child’s behavior. I knew then that I needed to bring this opportunity to the community of Cypress, so other parents could have access to the amazing support, resources, and environment that We Rock the Spectrum creates.