[citation needed] When she was 10 years old, Marina performed one of her original compositions for her piano teacher, who dismissed it as "nonsense".

[1][5] At 15, Marina won a national competition, beating over 100,000 peers, for a fully funded scholarship (Future Leaders Exchange (FLEX)) to study in the United States.

[1] Marina returned to Springfield when she was 17 years old, having saved money for a plane ticket, and she enrolled at Illinois College.

[2][4] During this time she battled with severe depression, and began to write more songs about her experiences and relationships, channeling her emotions into music.

[1][7][page needed] Shortly after she turned 19, Marina met guitarist Nicholas M Baker, who inspired her to take her musical talents seriously.

[1] Virtually unknown in Los Angeles, Marina and Baker accepted any gigs they could find — including a successful tour of several Borders[1][3][self-published source?]

Eventually they caught the attention of David Krebs, a manager who had worked with Don McLean, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, AC/DC and Aerosmith, among others.

[1] Another song, "Pesnya o Tebe", appears in Direct Contact, a 2009 Danny Lerner film starring Dolph Lundgren.

[citation needed] The crowd funded "Inner Superhero" album, featuring the song "Hello" with a video filmed in her native Moscow, won the 2013 Entrepreneurs On The Move award.

The official music video featured cameos from Steel Panther, David Ellefson of Megadeth, Thomas Ian Nicholas of American Pie and Jill Sobule, among many others.

In January 2025 Marina released a new single, Symphony & Metal, featuring David Ellefson of Megadeth and Bruce Kulick of KISS.