It is rare for a child to hear Coltrane's "Giant Steps" and Stravinsky's Rite of Spring before hearing Abbey Road, but Katya's childhood was far from ordinary. Growing up with a classical violinist for a mother and a father who plays both classical cello and jazz bass, it took a surprising amount of time before Katya was introduced to Aerosmith or Bruce Springsteen. Though a classical pianist through most of her childhood, it wasn't until high school that Katya began singing jazz. She co-founded CQU, an award-winning a cappella vocal jazz quartet, at age 14. Upon graduation, Katya was awarded the DiDomenico Scholarship for Majors in Music.

While pursuing undergraduate studies at Brandeis University, Katya became the first music student to concentrate in jazz. She served as the music director for several of the school's student-run musicals, sang trumpet parts in the big band, played piano with the orchestra, and wrote a jazz re-orchestration of Sondheim's “Company” for a student theatre group. During her junior year study abroad program, Katya was hired as a soloist with the chorus Universidad de Sevilla.

After graduating from Brandeis, Katya joined Boston Jazz Voices, an 18-person jazz a cappella group directed by Tsunenori “Lee” Abe, who would become her mentor and friend. Although she was the youngest member of the group, within two years of joining she became the Assistant Director. She was also the co-music director of Fermata Town A Cappella, an award-winning vocal group. She received her master's degree in vocal jazz performance at New England Conservatory, where she studied with Dominique Eade, John McNeil, and Jason Moran.

After grad school, she moved to New York, and started More Than Four, a multi-city four-person jazz vocal group with Lee Abe. The group went on to perform at Berklee Performance Center, the Clark Terry UNH Jazz Festival, and WBUR’s yearly reading of A Christmas Carol. Katya became the music director for BLACKOUT, an award-winning post-collegiate a cappella group, where she led the group to perform in locales such as the Today Show and the opening of Hudson Yards. She currently sings with Inspire: a Choir for Unity, a choir that partners with nonprofits to raise awareness, and performs regularly with the Nicholas Brust Quintet.

By day, she is a software engineer at Healthify, a tech startup helping to close the healthcare gap by addressing social determinants of health.