Diana Sapozhnik

Diana Ilyayevna Sapozhnik (née Portnoy; x|Russian: Диана Ильяевна Сапожник; born 8 May 1977) is a Russian-American television personality and lawyer, best known for starring in the x|VH1 reality series Russian Girls.

Early life
Sapozhnik was born in x|Moscow, Russia to Ilya Portnoy and Irma Schtein. Her father worked as an oral surgeon, while her mother was a housewife-turned-nurse. She comes from a family of x|Russian Jews and had a bat mitzvah. When she was nine years old, the family left the Soviet Union and settled in x|Matinecock, New York on x|Long Island in the United States.

Sapozhnik grew up in an affluent family with three younger sisters: Liza, Margarita, and Kamilla. She attended private schooling her whole life, and graduated from high school in 1995. After graduating, she studied international relations at x|New York University, graduating with a bachelor's degree in 1999. She later earned a juris doctor from x|Columbia Law School in 2002, and began working as a lawyer in x|New York City. She launched her own law firm in 2014, specializing in corporate law.

Career
Sapozhnik began a career as a television personality after she was cast on the x|VH1 reality series Russian Girls. Following her casting, she continued to work as a lawyer, which became a plot element in the show.

Personal life
Sapozhnik married Russian-American attorney Peter Sapozhnik in 2007. They previously began dating in 2001, while they were both law students at x|Columbia University. After residing in the x|Upper East Side of x|Manhattan for several years, they moved to the x|Jamaica Heights neighborhood of x|Queens in 2015. The couple has three children together: Hanna Marie Sapozhnik (born November 17, 2008), Gregory Daniel Sapozhnik (born March 14, 2010), and Matthew David Sapozhnik (born December 23, 2011).

Both Sapozhnik and her husband speak fluent x|Russian, and are raising their children bilingually. They are both practicing x|Jews. Sapozhnik became an American citizen in 1991.