Kim Palchikoff is a licensed master social worker as well as a non-fiction and features writer based in Reno, Nevada. She hails from California, where she graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz with a Bachelor’s degree in American Studies (1990). Her unique degree program focused on the policies and politics of the United States. Her particular focus emphasized the culture of the cold war and issues of higher education.

 

Following her graduation, inspired by her Russian step-father and a big curiosity to check out life on the other side of the iron curtain, she moved work in the former Soviet Union from 1990-2000 working as a freelance researcher and writer for NBC, the Moscow Times and the Los Angeles Times. Eventually she became a features writer for Newsweek magazine, Moscow Bureau, making a name for her writing about the Russian circus, including acrobats, trapeze artists, jugglers, clowns, and tightwire performers. As a freelancer she focused on telling stories about everyday Russians, whose lives often were overlooked by the mainstream media.  

 

Her opinion pieces have appeared in regional newspapers in Nevada, as well as in the New York Times. Her published work on the Russian circus has appeared as published freelance articles, including a column in the Russia Beyond the Headlines, as well as an oral history project funded by Nevada Humanities.

 

Back in Reno she obtained Masters degrees in adult education and social work from the University of Nevada, Reno, applying her well-honed interviewing and listening skills to helping the haves and have nots  

 

She has won awards from the Nevada Arts Council and the Nevada  Press Association for researching and writing on topics that humanize the experiences of those with mental health conditions as well as other topics.   She hosts a mental health podcast called “No Stigma Nevada."

 

She can be reached at palchikoff@gmail.com