Many of you already know Nikkole (Nikki) Rolando and Kami Kostiuk because of their positions at the former newspaper that served the area. But for those that aren’t familiar with these young ladies, they agreed to provide some information and a photo of themselves.
Both have agreed to work on the Rainy Lake Gazette and build a newspaper from the ground up, which is no easy task.
Nikki Rolando
I was born and raised in International Falls. I’m married to Don Rolando, and we have two kids, Easton and Ella Rolando. We also have three cats and a dog. I was previously at the Journal for over six years and loved getting to know the community so I’m happy to be back working for a newspaper!
Outside of work I love spending time with family, being on Rainy Lake, four wheeling, shopping, and movies.
Editor’s note: Don Rolando taught and coached basketball at Cook County High School in the late 90’s and was much loved teacher and a coach.
Kami Kostiuk
I was born in Nevada where my father was a national park service ranger. I have 4 sisters and two brothers. From Nevada we moved to New Mexico, where he worked for Bandelier National Monument. When I was in the 5th grade, he came up north to International Falls to work as the first ranger for Voyageurs National Park. I have lived here ever since.
I met my husband, Willi while in high school. I went to college at Bemidji State Univ. For accounting. We married in 1983. He began his career in law enforcement and I started mine in accounting. I have two children, Tyler and Abby who both graduated from Falls High School. Tyler was a captain in the Army and had three deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. He currently works for Target.com and is married with three children. Abby is currently working as a biology technician for Voyageurs Natl Park in wildlife research.
I started at The Daily Journal in 1994 and worked there as office manager for 27 years. I worked also in the classified, legal and circulation departments in the last few years. Hobbies are cross country skiing, reading, being on the lake in the summer, spending time with my family. I am really excited to have been given this opportunity to be a part of starting something new so our community will continue to have a local newspaper.