By the time Marina entered Princeton University in 1994, she was well-versed in international customs, culture and style. Following her passion for the arts, she received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Art History. In 1998, Marina relocated to Chicago and studied interior design at the Harrington Institute of Interior Design in Chicago, receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree.

In 2000 Birch Design Studio was launched as a residential interior design firm. While Marina worked to grow her business, she volunteered on several local boards and coordinated a number of fundraising galas. By applying her organizational nature and unique creative perspective, Marina realized she could fuse her art, design and logistical organization talent to create beautiful and unique events. Marina found that interiors and events not only share the same basic principles of design, such as scale, proportion, color, and lighting, but they also rely on creative problem solving, attention to detail, vendor coordination, as well as budget and time management. By fusing art, architecture, and fashion into impeccably planned events, Birch Design Studio began to create singular and personal celebrations for their clients.

What began as a peripheral service for certain clients slowly started to generate more and more business as word of mouth spread. In 2002, in order to meet the growing demand for the event side of the business, Birch Design Studio refined its services to focus solely on event planning and design. Since then the firm has been recognized as a leader in the industry with a strong commitment to its clients and to the field of event design. Birch Design Studio challenges the traditional assumptions about how events should be planned and celebrated, while respecting the foundations of etiquette and protocol. The end result is always a memorable event uniquely crafted for, and with, each client.