Rebecca (Rebbe) Bernstein was born and raised in Houston, Texas. She graduated in 2024 with a Bachelor’s degree in Jewish Studies and Russian Language and Literature, along with a minor in Nonprofit Leadership and Social Innovation from the University of Maryland, College Park. In 2023, she studied at the American University in Central Asia in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, through the Critical Language Scholarship. Her interest in the region began in 2019, during a service and educational journey to the Jewish community in Kyiv, Ukraine, which deeply moved her and inspired her to pursue further exploration of the post-Soviet space.