Katerina is of Banaban, I-Kiribati and African American heritage born and raised in Fiji. She is Associate Professor and Deputy Director - Higher Degree Research Training in the School of Culture, History and Language.

She was founder and convener of the Pacific Studies teaching program at ANU 2007-2015, Head of Gender, Media and Cultural Studies, founder of the Pasifika Australia Outreach Program, and co-founder and co-chair of the ANU Family Friendly Committee.

Katerina's commentary on Pacific issues has been published in the Conversation, Sydney Morning Herald, the Guardian, ABC Drum, Foreign Affairs and Australian Outlook. She has been a consultant with the Secretariat of the Pacific Community, UNESCO & DFAT on cultural policy and sustainable development, and Austraining International and ANU Enterprise on cross cultural and development training for Australian Volunteers International. In 2020 she joined the Board of New Zealand's Pacific Cooperation Foundation.

Katerina also has a background in contemporary Pacific dance and was a founding member of the Oceania Dance Theatre at the University of the South Pacific. She is currently a practising visual artist with an ongoing research-based exhibition "Project Banaba" originally commissioned by Carriageworks, Sydney, and curated by Yuki Kihara.

Katerina was President of the Australian Association for Pacific Studies 2012-2017 and is currently Vice-President.

She is Chair of the Oceania Working Party of the Australian Dictionary of Biography, Art Editor for The Contemporary Pacific: a journal of Island Affairs, and editorial board member of the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute and The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology.

In 2019 Katerina was awarded the College of Asia and the Pacific's Teaching Excellence Award. The Pacific Women's Professional and Business Network of NSW awarded her "Educator 2020".