Diana Borodina began working for the university in June 2014 with Information Technology Services. She moved to Housing as an accounting manager in April 2016.

1. What brought you to the University of Arkansas?

My husband loves Linux and he wanted to get a degree that based on this system. The University of Arkansas is one of the few places that we found that offers this program. I am an accounting major and heard a lot of positive things about the Walton College of Business.

I have a degree from Russia in accounting; however, due to differences in accounting systems, I have to retake classes to be eligible to apply for a master’s degree. So, we decided to try University of Arkansas.

2. Tell us a little about yourself – family? Pets?

I am happily married to my wonderful husband, Vitaly. We have precious daughter, Milana, who is 15 months old. We have a cat. She is very protective of us.

Previously, we lived with an American family that we call our own now. They had 3 dogs in the house. One of the dogs brought a little kitten home and “American Mom” let us keep her. Now our cat thinks she is a dog and will protect us by any means.

My dad lives in Columbia, Mo., and rest of our family is still in Russia.

3. What are your hobbies?

I love to travel, dance, sew, crochet and cook.

Our “American” parents took us everywhere and showed us many awesome places in the US. We visited Yellow Stone National park, Great Titans, Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Grand Canyon and many other awesome places.

We travelled north, south, west and a little bit to the east. I believe that we were in 35-40 states so far.

My biological parents are both dancers. My dad was a folk dancer and my mom was a ballet dancer. I started to travel with them when I was 8 months old.

When I was 5, I danced my first main role in a big production. It was “Little Red Riding Hood”. I was on the stage with my parents. I was awesome.

Little by little, I became a professional dancer and traveled with a dance troupe. However, I had an accident and a bad injury on the stage in the beginning of my career and, since I was studying accounting at the time as well, I decided to turn dancing to the hobby.

I love to do math. I was in special class for the kids who tested high in this subject. That is why I wanted to do accounting as well as dancing.

4. Can you provide us a random fact about you?

I married my husband twice and never divorced.

Russia doesn’t accept marriage from other countries. People need to provide additional proof that marriage is legal and go through some checking. So, my husband and I had two weddings — one in U.S. and one in Russia.

We went to a court house one time but had two “church” weddings and two receptions. I still use my maiden name in Russia because we didn’t have time to go through a “background” check when we went to visit our family.

5. Please imagine what a perfect day at work would be like. Tell us about that day.

I believe everyday now is my perfect day. I love to work with the people that I work with. I had a couple of bumps before I came to Housing, but all of it is in the past.

I am looking forward to great days still to come.