Chief-editor of Hora in America 

As a chief-editor of Hora in America magazine, where Irina VanPatten is a contributing writer, I have witnessed first hand her passion for writing. She has a unique style of handling difficult subjects with humor and you can hear her sarcastic voice throughout the text. Her story I Love You, Russian Style was a fun read for me personally. Nevertheless, she can switch to a serious mode and write with passion and conviction about issues like women’s rights, immigrants rights, equality.

She is a great interviewer, because she can listen to the people she talks to with the same passion that she writes about them. She is interested in what they do as professionals, and in their daily lives with their families. She had interviewed people from different professions and backgrounds: from truck drivers, doctors and science researches to movie directors and entertainers, but regardless of what they do, when she publishes an interview, she lets them shine.

—Natalia Ghilascu