Nina grew up poor in Detroit, raised by her mother Flo, a former prostitute who never knew who Nina's father was, just that he had a certain scar on his neck. As a teenager, Nina got pregnant, ran away from home, and was found on a park bench in Genoa City by Cricket Blair. They became best friends. Nina moved into a home for unwed mothers run by Rose DeVille, who, unbeknownst to Nina, headed a black-market baby ring. Just before her son was born, Nina had a change of heart about the adoption. So Rose abandoned Nina on the delivery table, and kidnapped her new son. Cricket and Nina were unsuccessful in locating Rose or Nina's baby.
Cricket and Nina became roommates, and Cricket and Danny worked with her to polish her rough edges. Then Nina set her sights on Cricket's boyfriend, Phillip Chancellor III, heir to the Chancellor fortune. Nina got Phillip drunk, seduced him, and ended up pregnant. Phillip's mother, Jill, and Katherine Chancellor, disapproving of Nina, tried but failed to buy her off. Nina had a son, Phillip IV, and she and Phillip married. Jill and Kay set Nina up by hiring handsome Jabot employee, Chase Benson, to seduce Nina and prove her an unfit mother. Their plan backfired. But Phillip's drinking problem soon led to his death when his sports car slammed into a tree.