Janina recorded her first audiobooks in the late 1980s for the American Foundation for the Blind’s Talking Book program. She has recorded more than 400 titles crossing many genres through traditional publishers including Penguin Random House, Blackstone, Simon & Schuster, Tantor and Audible. She is most proud of books such as Alice Walker’s Temple of My Familiar, Jasmine Guillory’s The Wedding Date, Asia Citro’s Zooey & Sassafras childrens’ books, Disney’s The Lion King audio project, Taylor Branch’s Pillar of Fire and Parting the Waters (two authoritative works on the Civil Rights movement and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.) and Ilya Woo’s Master Slave Husband Wife. She has a soft spot for romance which she records under the pseudonym Mari.

Janina’s audiobook projects have garnered an Audie award (for the multi-cast production The Final Revival of Opal and Nev), 8 Audie finalist nominations, 8 Earphones awards and 2 SOVAS nominations. Janina also narrates long-format journalism for the New York Times. She is a graduate of the Studio Acting Program at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. A proud member of SAG-AFTRA, Janina also coaches and teaches about audiobook narration through Open Studio online and has presented at events such as VO Atlanta, and the Audio Publishers Association Conference.

Janina’s eclectic background includes a masters degree in Theatre Technology, focusing on properties. She managed the Props Department for the Tony Award winning Alliance Theatre, the Southeast’s largest regional theatre, for 5 years; a 300-hour yoga teacher certification, with a specialty in Restorative Yoga; and music dabbling. (She sings kirtan and folk, and plays the harmonium, fiddle, and most recently started dabbling with cello).