Early life in Ukraine 

Boris and Yelena Mishonishnik got married in 1971, and one year later, they had Svetlana Mishonishnik, born on May 12, 1972, in Odessa, Ukraine, which was part of the Soviet Union. Both Boris and Yelena worked in a factory in Odessa, while Svetlana's grandmother, Victoria Borin, took care of her. Svetlana and her parents lived in her grandparents' apartment because her grandfather, Abraham, had lost limbs fighting for the Soviet Union and was rewarded with a comfortable apartment and other benefits. Growing up in Odessa, young Svetlana attended a communist preschool, played with neighborhood children, and often visited the ocean, as she lived near the Black Sea. In 1977, their apartment sadly burnt down, forcing them to live in community housing.