As an editor and director of WireTap Magazine, Kristina Rizga thinks she has the best job in the country. Every day, she gets to work with passionate, brilliant young journalists and activists from around the county. As a child of the late, former Soviet Union who grew up surrounded by daily government propaganda and corrupt officials, Kristina saw first hand how small journals, films, and music created by young people inspired and grew movements for social change. Since then, she has been committed to independent media that allows a broad range of voices and communities to speak for themselves.
Prior to WireTap, Kristina worked at Media Alliance— a coalition of progressive writers and activists working for media reform and justice. She organized monthly events ranging from FCC hearings to music concerts to journalism classes and edited a quarterly media justice journal. At nights, she freelanced for a variety of alternative weeklies and magazines. She moved to the U.S. from Latvia in 1994, and holds a B.A. in History from U.C. Berkeley.
What most people don’t know about Kristina is that prior to her move to the United States, she didn’t know how to use a computer and never heard of hip hop. She never imagined that a few years later she would edit a web publication and her lifetime partner would be a former graffiti writer and a hip hop head.