Born in 1888 in Krasnopolye, Mohilev Gubernia, White Russia. Father and grandfather -- cantors.

After her father's death, her family settled in Homel, and she became through her brother a member of the Russian operetta troupe of Suslov, continuing in the troupe where she performed in the prominent singing roles. When the troupe guest-starred in Vilna, she was taken into the conservatory by Professor Shanyavsky, where she studied for two years.

Recommended by the pianist Filatova-Polyakova in the Russian operetta theatre "Buf" in Peterburg, she performed there for the recently sick prima donna, but due to anti-Semitism, they began to make her disturbed in her right mind, though there came to the town a second theatre and she had to cancel her acting on Yom Kippur; also the second theatre left.

Returning to Homel, she entered into a Russian operetta troupe, directing her older brother, where she met the singer David Medoff, with whom she married. Since then, with an interruption to be able to take care of their children and their education, she performed together with her husband in duet scenes, previously in Ukrainian across the United States and Canada, where she had moved about in 1916, and then in Yiddish.