Introducing Me: Katerina

Hi everyone! I’m Katerina Tolkachev, one of the Marketing Directors on the Hearts to Heroes executive board. My responsibilities include running the @hearts2heroes Instagram page, making graphics to promote events, filming and editing recap videos, and managing the website. My goal as a Marketing Director is to create fun, entertaining content to promote events and attract as many volunteers as possible.

Marketing has been one of my creative strengths since freshman year when I ran Northwood’s Class of 2024 Instagram account while I was on Freshman Class Council. During my junior year I ran Northwood’s main Instagram account while serving as the ASB Publicity Commissioner. I am so grateful for this opportunity to use my talent for and experience in publicity to promote an important cause like Hearts to Heroes.

I’ve been volunteering with Hearts to Heroes since my freshman year. I’ve always admired its mission of giving back to essential workers in our community. Living through a worldwide pandemic only made my admiration grow stronger. While tucked away securely in my house for months during the Covid-19 shutdown, I realized how the nurses, doctors, grocery clerks, mail carriers, and other essential workers of the world didn’t have the same luxury I did of sheltering from the virus. Showing our support, love, and respect to these workers is a great way for students to give back to our community.

Outside of Hearts to Heroes, I occupy myself with other extracurricular activities, the most time consuming of which is swimming. I’ve been a competitive swimmer since I was five years old. I swim for Irvine Novaquatics where I have the opportunity to train with and compete against Olympians and international-level swimmers. I also swim for Northwood High School’s varsity swim team and Irvine Swim League’s Northwood Pointe Flash. I love spending time not only competing, but also training, spending time outside of the pool with my swim friends, coaching, and giving private lessons to people ranging from toddlers to adults. 

In addition to the Hearts to Heroes nonprofit, I also founded and created my own nonprofit called Food Allergy Grades, which helps people with food allergies navigate life. Follow our insta: @foodallergygrades if you’re interested in being part of our journey! Finally, my love for medicine and politics has fueled my passion to participate in summer programs such as the UCI MedAcademy and the Johns Hopkins Global Health Leaders Conference. 

I look forward to spending my last year in high school working with an amazing group of board members and volunteers at Hearts to Heroes. I hope we can show our essential workers how meaningful they are to our community!