Born in Brest, then part of the Russian Empire, she was educated up to secondary school level, where she studied Hebrew.
[3] In her early years in New York City Margolin joined the editorial staff of the liberal Yiddish daily Der Tog (The Day; founded 1914).
Under her real name, she edited a section entitled "In der froyen velt" (In the women's world); and also wrote journalistic articles under various pseudonyms, including "Sofia Brandt," and – more often, in the mid 1920s – "Clara Levin.
"[4][5] During the same period, she wrote prose short stories, often pseudoymously, which have received less critical attention than her poetry.
One reviewer described her work as "sensual, jarring, plainspoken, and hard, the record of a soul in direct contact with the streets of 1920s New York".