Karoliina Manela Rajapaksa-Yapa Tuovinen earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the Ohio State University, with a focus on creative writing and film studies. She relocated to the West Coast in 2001 and worked as an editor in higher education publishing for several years before attending graduate school. Karoliina has spent time in Sri Lanka shooting footage for a video project that she hopes to finish after school. Most recently, she was the assistant editor on a documentary about Skid Row in Los Angeles. Her hobbies include: writing short stories, playing classical piano, and shooting black and white photography.