met guitarist Nick Baker, who inspired her to take her musical talents seriously. She sold her pickup truck and bought a piano. She entered in her college's talent competition and sang her original composition "Leaving," winning first prize. She then decided to start recording her music and was able to finance a recording session for her debut CD Let Me Dream through, paid for by pre-orders from students and faculty members. Her first show, at a coffeehouse in Jacksonville, Illinois, was filled to capacity. Marina and Baker began writing songs together and began touring around Illinois, enjoying considerable success. Marina and Baker moved to Los Angeles in 2001, the week after she graduated from Illinois College. Virtually unknown in Los Angeles, Marina and Baker accepted any gigs they could find — including a successful tour of several Borders Bookstores — and sent out hundreds of demos to people in the music industry. Eventually they caught the attention of David Krebs, a manager who had worked with Don McLean, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, AC/DC and Aerosmith, among others. In 2005, Marina joined forces with Jack Douglas. Douglas produced two tracks for her Simple Magic album: "Underneath Your Sky" and "Killing My Dream." In Sept 2006, Marina released her first live album, "Live at SoundMoves," which was recorded in one session at SoundMoves recording studios in Burbank, California. In 2006, Marina and Nick Baker toured the Czech Republic and Slovakia. In January 2008, Marina released "Modern Fairytale," recorded with Nick Baker, Marina's band, and their friend and engineer Jared Brown at the home studio of musician Graham Nash. In 2009, "Sunshine Guaranteed" from "Modern Fairytale" was featured on a popular iPhone game, Tap Tap Revenge2. Another song, "Pesnya o Tebe", appears in Direct Contact, a 2009 Danny Lerner film starring Dolph Lundgren. In January 2011, Marina and Baker released My Star, produced by Guy Erez. It was funded entirely by Marina's listeners, who raised $30,000 for her on marinav.com. One of the songs, "Killing My Dream," featured guitarist and former KISS member Bruce Kulick. In 2011, several of Marina's songs aired on NBC's soap opera, Days of Our Lives. In July 2011, Marina released an EP entitled "Small Collection of Interesting Songs," which featured three of the songs featured on the program. Marina and Baker wrote the theme song for the 2012 film Truth About Kerry. The crowd funded "Inner Superhero" album, featuring the