She is a Detroit native of Ukrainian immigrants and grew up attending Ukrainian schools (Immaculate Conception Ukrainian Catholic Grade School, High School, Ridna Shkola - Ukrainian Saturday school), was a member of PLAST (Ukrainian scouting organization), and briefly studied Ukrainian dance. She studied film at the School of Visual Arts in NYC where she also worked at Rockamerica Video, a music video production company where she worked with various recording artists. She graduated from Wayne State University with a degree in film and television. She has also lived & worked in Miami for the television show “World Business Review with Casper Weinberger” and later worked as an Executive Producer for AFI Filmworks and produced car commercials.