Commencing your professional career at an age as young as 13 years is a feat on its own. However, for the Kharkiv native Karina Torres née Zhironkina, it is just one of the many milestones that she has accomplished throughout her life. Karina Torres was born to Mr and Mrs Zhironkina on April 28, 1991. She began modelling as a teenager and pursued this field, eventually becoming Miss Ukraine in 2012.

The profession like every other profession had its pros and cons. While Karina accumulated a lot of fame, praise and success, the continuous pressure that she was put undertook a toll on her mental health. She mustered immense strength and displayed tremendous resilience as she pulled herself out of the darkness.

After garnering popularity as Miss Ukraine, Karina challenged her vigour by participating in a fitness competition. Little did she know about the gruelling experience that she will have to endure.

She trained 2 times a day, 7 days a week for 3 months and was required to consume only boiled meat (without salt, spices or oil), cucumbers and lettuce. Three days preceding the competition, she was asked to refuse water and the day leading to the event, she had to take diuretics – medical drugs that make you urinate frequently so that the water is drawn out of the body.

After this enervating experience, Karina realised she should invest her time in something that is more productive and does not take a toll on her mental well-being.

Soon after finishing the competition, Karina met her now-husband. They married and are parents to two beautiful children. Her children’s eminently proper upbringing is Karina’s one of the primary concerns. With respect to that, she wanted to invest her time working for something that would connect her with her children. And so, The NIKI TV channels were founded.

The NIKI TV channels are Ukraine’s first children’s TV Channels that operate in Full HD and air English content with polyphonic professional Ukrainian dubbing. The young viewers watch premieres simultaneously with the whole world. They are also the only Ukrainian children’s TV channels to have applied age division to the content into two independent TV channels: NIKI Junior and NIKI Kids. NIKI Junior is aimed at kids aged 0-5 while NIKI Kids is aimed for kids aged 5+.

As Karina navigates through the undulating terrains of life, she depicts a resilient woman capable of achieving anything she puts her mind to and inspires everyone around her to do the same.