Narina Sokolova was born in 1971 in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) in the former Soviet Union. She began her art education at age six at the Vasiliev Art School in Yalta in the Crimea. In 1987 she returned to her native Leningrad for advanced studies in drawing, painting, and graphic design at the Academy of Art of Repin, followed by extensive training with Russian Masters, Nader Chigalidze and Tamara Kavolina.

Her father, Emil Sarkisyan, was a noted dissident. He was sent to the Siberian GULAG as punishment for his anti-Communist activities and for his association with Dr. Andrei Sakharov. He was later allowed entry to the United States with Narina joining him in 1991. Since her arrival in the United States, Narina has created a successful career working as a production artist in the animation industry for studios such as Nickelodeon, Disney, and the Cartoon Network. In 2007 she was honored with an Emmy for Individual Achievement in Animation for the program, "My Gym Partner's A Monkey".