Irena Ponaroshku

Irena Ponaroshku (real name – Irina Vladimirovna Filippova; born October 14, 1982, in Moscow) (Russian: Ирена Понарошку) is a Russian media personality, TV host, journalist, blogger, former VJ on MTV Russia, Evening Urgant TV show presenter, Vogue Russia columnist. Irena was born in Moscow in 1982 to Vladimir Mikhailovich Filippov, former Minister of Education of the Russian Federation, and Natalia Sergeevna Filippova, who worked as a teacher of algebra and geometry for 20 years.

At the beginning of her TV career Irena claimed that she was the daughter of the bass guitar player of the Polish group “Czerwone Gitary” Janek Ponaroshku, whose family fled Poland for the Soviet Union in 1989 following the rise of the Solidarity movement.In 2005 Ponaroshku jokingly insisted on this version: “Yes, this is not a pseudonym! It is a Polish-Hungarian surname, like Zanavesku and other heroes of jokes about Stierlitz! I inherited it from my father. He is a musician ... ”.Ponaroshku is a cum laude graduate of the Faculty of Economics of the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia with a degree in marketing, English and French.