By Max Chwatko Photography by Miranda Schloat Rita Baunok Immigrated from Hungary, 1997 Katonah resident and artist Rita Baunok followed her boyfriend (now husband) to America when she was 32 years old. “I came to visit and never left!” Today, she’s the owner of Chroma Gallery in Katonah. Did you have any hesitations about immigrating to the United States? Yes ...

By Ana Dorta Photography by Miranda Schloat Lars Klein Immigrated from Germany, 2011 Lars Klein, senior engagement manager at revenue intelligence platform Gong felt pulled to the United States when he found himself traveling here for work very frequently from his native country of Germany. While work was the initial reason he considered moving to the United States, it was ...

By Ava Fleisher Svetlana Shmulyian Immigrated from Russia, 1995 Pound Ridge resident Svetlana Shmulyian immigrated from Russia in 1995 via a graduate program scholarship. Because she fled for her safety, she was able to stay here as a refugee. Today, she’s a U.S. citizen and an award-winning singer and songwriter. When and why did you immigrate to the United States? ...

Writing by Ava Fleisher Photography by Justin Negard Sensei Masakazu Takahashi Immigrated from Japan, 1971 Armonk resident Sensei Masakazu Takahashi, an engineer, immigrated from Japan in 1971 to teach karate full time. He’s now the owner of Takahashi Karate Dojo in Mount Kisco.  When and why did you immigrate to the United States? In 1971, I was 25, and we ...

Writing by Ana Dorta Photography by Justin Negard Namasha Schelling Immigrated from Tanzania, 1994 A Pound Ridge councilwoman and the program director for Creatives Want Change, Namasha Schelling spent her early childhood in Tanzania before moving to the U.S. With a Swiss father and a Tanzanian mother, Schelling grew up speaking English, Swiss-German, and Swahili (she’s no longer fluent in ...

Writing by Max Chwatko Photography by Justin Negard Gustavo Lojano Immigrated from Ecuador, 1997 Pleasantville resident Gustavo Lojano left Ecuador when he was 18 years old, hoping for a better life in America. He began working as an apprentice, and today, he owns his own contracting company, Gustavo Lojano General Contracting in Thornwood. When and why did you immigrate to ...

Writing by Oscar Andy Hammerstein Charles Moore is the director of programs and operations at Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA). RTA a non-profit organization founded by a Katonah resident in 1996; it provides art-related programs to eight correctional facilities in New York State. Their theater workshops help inmates build communication skills, set goals, solve problems and work collaboratively.  Moore joined ...

By Cameron bly    Photography by Justin Negard Meet Liev, a nine-year-old boy who is a rising fourth grader at Pequenakonck Elementary School. Besides playing with his dog, he likes to build Lego sets and solve a variety of cubes and puzzles. While Liev was supposed to be the star of the show, his older sister Charlotte, a rising sixth grader, ...

By Robin Goetz Photography by Gil Vaknin There’s THE DREAM. The one where you show up to a class you didn’t mean to take—it’s the wrong class. You are panicked, then you wake up. One could say that ceramic artist Bracken Fern is LIVING that dream. In ninth grade, she was mistakenly enrolled in a ceramics class instead of photography, ...