Ekaterina Kozhevnikova: “All My Professional Habits Come from Asia-Plus”

Ekaterina Kozhevnikova arrived at Asia-Plus as a student determined to prove she could join an established professional team. She had already decided to become a journalist, but meeting the newsroom’s respected writers made her shy at first. Over time, she moved from student assignments to coverage of some of Tajikistan’s most important economic developments.

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I laid the professional foundation right here: in 2005 I graduated from the Russian-Tajik (Slavic) University with a degree in Journalism.

Kozhevnikova grew up in Dushanbe, a city she says shaped her character and outlook. She graduated from the Russian-Tajik (Slavic) University in 2005 with a degree in journalism. Her husband is also from Dushanbe, and the couple now lives in St. Petersburg with their two children. They often tell the children about Tajikistan, while the children watch old footage from their mother’s life with delight and surprise.

She joined Asia-Plus in 2003, shortly before receiving her diploma. As a young reader, she did more than follow the newspaper. She “literally lived by it,” studying the team, learning its members’ names and observing each journalist’s style. Her first article, about the Tiger Balka nature reserve, brought her to the newsroom, where she met Parvina Hamidova and Marat Mamadshoev, journalists she already regarded as stars.

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I literally lived by it.

“I remember standing shyly and waiting for their professional verdict on my article: would they print it or tell me that I wasn’t ready yet?” she recalls. “They took the article. It was a magical feeling.” She began as a freelance correspondent, then passed her probation period and joined the editorial staff permanently.

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I remember standing shyly and waiting for their professional verdict on my article: would they print it or tell me that I wasn’t ready yet?

Her work grew with the newspaper. After early notes and cautious articles, she took on more complex economic reporting. She covered the beginnings of large-scale construction projects at the Rogun and Sangtuda HPP-1 hydropower plants, wrote about economics and investment, and conducted interviews with senior managers of leading companies and heads of industries in Tajikistan. The newsroom years remain a source of nostalgia, shaped by arguments at editorial meetings and a shared commitment to each story.

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They took the article. It was a magical feeling.