Azima Aidarov is a first-year student in the MARS-REERS program at the Harriman Institute. She was born and raised in Chicago and graduated from Boston University, where she majored in International Relations and minored in Russian. Following graduation, she worked for the Russian-speaking Jewish Division at the Jewish United Fund in Chicago. Because both of her parents immigrated to the U.S. from Kyrgyzstan, she grew up speaking Russian and is fluent in the language. Within the MARS-REERS program, she intends to focus on Central Asia and its ties to Russia. Her areas of interest include strengthening the relationship between the U.S. and Central Asia as well as democratization and security developments in the region. Azima plans to pursue a career in diplomacy.