Erin Coyne has held various jobs in Russia including a Peace Corps volunteer and an NGO program director in Ukraine and Armenia. She has spent more nights drinking on the streets of Moscow than she will ever admit to and filling far too much time taking long train trips through Eastern Europe, going to concerts, and hanging out in seedy bars and rock clubs doing "research." She is currently working on a PhD in Slavic Linguistics at UC Berkeley. Erin's husband Igor Fisun is a native of Kiev, Ukraine where he worked for a several years in water bottling factory before quitting his 9-5 to pursue freelance engraving. He currently hangs out in Berkeley bars teaching the clientele how to curse in Russian.