Seems Like a Dream - Irina Herbst

The images and memories are a little hazy these days, but Irina Herbst still remembers her native Moscow.

“I remember parts of being in Russia,” says the 32-year-old Pikesville resident who immigrated to this country at age 6. “I remember walking around Red Square and other places, and all of my friends back there. I even remember the flight here. But I don’t have a vivid memory of it all. … It all seems like a lifetime ago to me, like a dream. My older sister remembers more of it. She’s more Russian than me.”

You could call Herbst a classic American success story. Coming from humble beginnings, she lives today in Pikesville with her husband, Jon Herbst, an attorney and sports agent, and their two children, Madelyn, 3, and Sammy, 1. The family belongs to Baltimore Hebrew Congregation.

A 2003 graduate of Owings Mills High School, she has a doctor of pharmacy degree from the University of Maryland, Baltimore, as well as a master of business administration degree from the University of Baltimore. Herbst is the owner of AME Pharmacy in Catonsville.

Back in 1991, Herbst, her parents, Lilia and Akim Gold, and her sister, Jane, arrived in Baltimore during the massive Jewish immigration wave from the former Soviet Union. They originally lived in Pikesville’s Milbrook neighborhood and eventually moved to Owings Mills.

“My parents wanted a better life for us and themselves,” Herbst says. “They felt Russia was a very scary, dangerous place for Jews. They were actually pretty well-off in Russia, but they couldn’t practice their religion over there. They had to always keep it to themselves. My father was high up running an auto company, but they felt it was only a matter of time until they found out he was Jewish.”

With her maternal grandmother, Herbst’s family came to Baltimore because her paternal grandparents and aunt and uncle lived here.

“It was very tough at first,” she recalls. “My dad had to start all over. He was washing cars when we first came here. Back in Russia, he had 250 people working under him. He was nothing when we came here.”

But Akim Gold eventually opened up a car dealership here and later a successful medical supplies business.

“He’s a really good businessman,” says Herbst, who calls her parents “heroes. There were a lot of years of really hard work. My mom became a nurse practitioner here. I’m very proud of them. It wasn’t easy, but they’re very happy they came over here.”

Herbst admits that she sometimes forgets that, technically speaking, she’s an immigrant.

“I forget about that part of my life,” she says. “I do speak Russian with my parents, but most of my friends are American. I don’t feel like being an immigrant is really part of my life, but it has impacted me in some ways. I feel like I’m a private person, but also a very optimistic person. Maybe that’s part of it all.

“I guess I’m the American Dream,” Herbst says. “I hope to go back [to Russia] sometime to visit. But I’m happy to be here. Very happy.”