Nina left the Palisades in 1973 and headed to New York for a possible dancing career in ballet and modern jazz. Back home after a failed dancing career, she landed in an advertising agency writing ad copy. After the ad agency, there was a two-year stint at ABC-TV in Hollywood, of which she could tell stories that no one would believe.

More changes along the road: a failed marriage, entering the computer industry, entering (rather late in life) the University for a B.S. and M.S. in clinical psychology, and marrying her current husband (a very successful marriage!). She wound up in Silicon Valley as a technical writer, editor, manager, and eventually director. This was the hey-day of the dot.com boom, which eventually also nearly killed her and helped Nina and her husband on their path to finding a house in Italy.

Through all of the facets of her life--dancer, avid cat lover, flute player, tennis player, corporate player--she has always written. It didn't matter whether it was technical, scientific, psychology, marketing, poetry, short stories, history; she had to write.

Nina lives in Italy with her husband, the painter and writer, Pavel Machotka, in their reconstructed farmhouse.