Katia Charkölarssen

**Katia Charka Charkölarssen** (born 22 June 1986) is a Lashardian singer, songwriter, model, and philanthropist, best known for being a member of the girl group Marlina.

## Life and career

### Early life

Charkölarssen was born on 22 June 1986 in the Tenichi district of Ubenmoor. Her father Chark was an accountant while her mother Henrietta was an HR representative. She has an older brother, while the family was middle class.

Charkölarssen attended primary school in Tenichi, where she performed well academically, graduating in 2001 as her school's valedictorian. She later began attended a business and law high school in Morgana, where she studied to be a lawyer, graduating in 2004. Despite being accepted to Lashardian International University as a pre-law student, she decided instead to pursue a music career.

### 2004–present: Work with Marlina

In 2004, Charkölarssen attended an open audition by Cyclops Records for female singers aged 18 to 22, and was subsequently cast in their upcoming girl group Marlina. The group ended up being extremely successful, earning two number-one albums and nine top ten singles in Lashardia. From 2014 to 2015, they performed in a residency show in Kesa.

### 2010–2014: Solo career

During Marlina's hiatus, Charkölarssen revealed that she'd be pursing a solo career. In a 2010 interview, she stated "The new solo music you're going to hear from me is going to be very different than the music Marlina puts out. It's not Lashpop at all, I don't see myself as a Lashpop artist, and I don't care if I don't become some huge superstar with this stuff, I just wanna make one fan out there smile".

Charkölarssen released her solo album's lead single "My Drums" in summer 2011. The song was heavily inspired by indie pop and electropop, and was a number-one hit in Adoriam, also reaching the top twenty in Lashardia and Pesa. The album, titled *Smoke and Mirrors*, was later released in 2012. It produced the singles "Lucky Charm" and "Yo-Yo Boy", which all became hits in Adoriam.

## Philanthropy

### Anti-tanning activism

With the start of her music career, Charkölarssen starting noting that other girls were dressing more "glamorous" than she was and she wished to look like them. It was at these times that Charkölarssen would feel unattractive due to her pale complexion and soon began using fake-tan to darken her skin tone into what she later described as a "dirty mess" but at the time made her feel more attractive. She stated that despite having a father who died of skin cancer, she refused to acknowledge the dangers of tanning. Due to her pale skin tone Charkölarssen found herself easily burning in the sun which led to chronic pain and during the shoot of the Marlina single "Walk on Water" she had trouble filming due to severe burns which left her wanting to visit the hospital. During her time with Marlina she filmed a television special titled *Pashina* (English: *Passion*) for which she travelled to Pesa where she learned about natural skin products, something she had been interested in due to her pale complexion. Following this Charkölarssen began a stance against tanning which saw her produce and star in a LRT investigative documentary titled *Katia Charkölarssen: Gregorsht* (English: *The Truth*) in which she revealed her own personal tanning issues and those of men and women throughout Lashardia who have excessively used tanning beds. She met families of those deceased from melanoma who were actively pushing for a change in law for a ban on tanning beds for under 18s which provoked Charkölarssen to become an advocate for the ban of underage usage of tanning beds.

### Anti-bullying activism

After the success of Marlina, Charkölarssen was exposed to relentless online bullying due to her appearance. She was consistently branded as "the ugly one", which was later fueled by celebrities such as Nikola & Nikolas and Öga Karshölitelmonk. In a 2013 interview, she recalled herself suffering from intense depression and crying herself to sleep at night because of this. In early-2006, she dyed her natural flaming red hair to a dark auburn color in order to appease the bullies, which she stated "helped calm the bullying down". Following this, Charkölarssen began working heavily with Lashardian organizations against bullying, and in 2014 posed naked as a part of a nationally syndicated "More comfortable in my own skin than ever" campaign.

## Personal life

Charkölarssen's father died in 2003 of skin cancer. She later adopted the feminine version of his name as her self-chosen middle name. She currently resides in the Jorden district of Ubenmoor.

### Studio albums

List of studio albums, with selected chart positions, sales figures and certifications
* Format: Digital download, CD, LP
* PES: Gold

### Singles

List of singles as lead artist, with selected chart positions and certifications, showing year released and album name
 "Yo-Yo Boy"