Originally part of the Ashanti culture in West Africa, Genina was captured by Portuguese slavers at a young age. She was eventually shipped off to Haiti, where young Genina worked on the sugarcane plantations. Rumors among the slaves, however, told of the arrival of the Lord of Cemeteries, the Baron Samedi. At first skeptical, Genina joined a Voodoo cult when she was nine years old. She watched as one of the younger participants was fed upon by a Samedi woman, and when she tried to run away, she was taken and Embraced by Baron Samedi himself.