Gena graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Tennessee, where she majored in Russian with a minor in English. She attended graduate school at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill in Comparative Literature with an emphasis on Russian, German and English.

Gena enjoys photography, riding her horse, Gus, and spending time with her friends and family.

Gena spent a year studying German and Philosophy at the renowed Georg August Universität in Göttingen, Germany.