[1][2] Her parents were Antonija and Živko Lapajne,[1] her father was a prominent medical doctor specialising in the treatment of tuberculosis[3] and public health work, including running a hygiene institute with an interest in eugenics after the First World War.

[5] From 1934 to 1943 she worked as a structural engineer for the technical department of the royal administration of the province of Drava Banate in Ljubljana, supervising the construction of buildings planned by the state at the time.

Buildings she worked on included Ljublijana's Gimnazija Bezigrad High School, the Gallery of Modern Art and the National and University Library, and the King Hotel in Rogaška Slatina.

[2] In 1941 she joined the Yugoslav Partisans, a resistance movement against the Axis forces during the Second World War, led by the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (KPJ) under the leadership of Josip Broz Tito.

The other 19 women featured were Darinka Battelino, Alenka Kham Pičman, Janja Lap, Dana Pajnič, Lidija Podbregar, Barbara Rot, Olga Rusanova, Erna Tomšič, Mojca Vogelnik, Vladimira Bratuž, Majda Dobravec Lajovic, Mgada Fornazarič Kocmut, Marta Ivanšek, Nives Kalin Vehovar, Juta Krulc, Seta Mušič, Dušana Šantel Kanoni, Gizela Šuklje and Branka Tancig Novak.