She was sedated so as not to speak Romanian and thus betray her national origin when meeting a diplomat by the Swiss border, where she was reunited with her parents in Zürich.
The family later moved to Canada;[2] her mother and stepfather worked in a piggery in Saskatchewan,[3] where Marina resided in a single-room schoolhouse.
[2] Sturdza became a fashion and culture as columnist for two American newspapers, The Globe and Mail and The Toronto Star and briefly worked for Oscar de la Renta.
Sturdza supported a number of child welfare and palliative care programs for children in her home country.
She was president of strategic planning agencies Marina Sturdza Enterprises and Summits International, which specialised in Eastern Europe.