Irena Karpa was born on 8 December 1980 in Cherkasy (Central Ukraine),[2] and grew up in the Subcarpathian region (Prykarpattia).

Since 1999 she has been the frontwoman and songwriter of the band Faktychno Sami (later renamed Qarpa [uk]).

In 2003 Karpa received a graduate's degree (magistar) in the English and French languages.

On 13 October 2014, according to Euromaidan, the minister of culture of the self-proclaimed "republic of Donetsk" signed a death warrant ordering that she be shot for publishing a cartoon considered inappropriate.

[citation needed] On May 17, 2008, Karpa married journalist and writer Anton Friedland, but in 2009 they divorced.