Karolina Pyszkiewicz

Born in Poland and raised in the United States, Karolina is a professional dancer with 25 years of dance training. She trained in ballet for 20 years in the US, in addition to studying ballet alongside her Computer Science degree at the University of Washington. After moving to Australia in 2019 Karolina decided to expand to other dance styles, exploring Latin forms like Salsa, Bachata, and Zouk. Karolina started training in Samba at Escola de Samba Sydney in 2021 and has been a valuable member of the community ever since.

Karolina quickly developed a passion for Brazilian dance and culture and spent significant time immersing herself in the community in Brazil, training and parading in Rio Carnaval. In 2023 she paraded in Carnaval with Unidos de Bangu and in 2024 Karolina spent two months training, performing, and parading as official Passista in Carnaval with Unidos de Bangu and Porto da Pedra.

Karolina’s unwavering dedication has led to her to become an instructor at Escola de Samba Sydney and professional dancer for the Rio Projekt performance ensemble.

Karolina is also a Senior Product Manager at Google, leading a product team based in Sydney and Tokyo that builds for Google Maps, a product used globally. She has additionally combined her love for Brazilian culture with her full time role at Google by focusing on Google Maps initiatives in Brazil.