Anya was born in Australia in 1956 after her parents immigrated to the country during World War 2. They gave birth to her eldest brother, Filipp, in Russia, before moving to Australia and giving birth to Nikolai and her. She grew up speaking mostly Russian at home, and speaking English everywhere else. However, once she got married and moved out at age 19, she almost exclusively spoke English.

Her father died of lung cancer when she was 22 and her mother decided to move back to Russia. By the time she was 35, Anya had almost completely forgotten Russian. She had not been in contact with her mother in many years, however, when she was 36, she and her brothers heard from their aunt, explaining that their mother was ill.
She and Filipp traveled to Russia and looked after their mother for the 7 months before she died. In this time the Russian language came back to Anya, she met her Russian relatives; and she came to appreciate and respect her Russian roots, after seeing the sights and culture.

By the time her mother died, Anya was very loyal to Russia, however she returned to Australia to live with her husband. To keep up with her Russian language skills as well as to stay on top of the current events, every week Anya would read a Russian newspaper.
This is a tradition that she had kept up for 12 years. She also kept in contact with her Russian relatives and has visited the country many a time with her husband.