 Nova began performing and recording music while she was a student at the University of North Texas, in Denton, Texas.She released an album, entitled "Word" in 1998, under the name Shara.Following her completion of a Bachelor of Music degree in Classical Vocal Performance, Nova moved to Moscow, Russia, where she documented several newly written songs and released them on CD-R's as an album entitled "Session I", which included hand-made artwork.