Gromova was born to working-class family on 3 January 1924 in the village of Pervomaysky (English: "May First", named for International Labor Day) in what is now the Krasnodon Raion of Luhansk Oblast of Ukraine (then in the Ukrainian SSR of the Soviet Union; Lugansk Province was not established until 1938).

Like many of her classmates, she worked in agriculture to replace farm workers and took care of wounded soldiers in the hospital (reading to them, helping them write letters, and so forth).

She took an active part in the preparations for armed resistance, the creation and dissemination of anti-fascist leaflets, collecting medicines and campaigning among the population, urging them to not obey the enemy and to disrupt plans to supply the Germans with material and impress Soviet youth to work in Germany.

On the night of 7 November 1942 (on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the October Revolution), Gromova and Popov hoisted the red flag on a pipe shaft at Mine Number 1 in occupied Krasnodon.

Even in the note which she managed to pass secretly to her relatives, knowing her death was near, she expressed faith in victory and called for her brother Elisha to stand firmly for his homeland.