Jana grew up in Czechoslovakia during the World War II.  In 1947 she immigrated as a teenager with her parents and siblings to United States, and two years later she graduated from Farragut High School in Chicago, and later from Nicolet College in Rhinelander, WI, where she majored in accounting.  She specialized in taxes and opened a Tax Accounting office in Woodruff, WI.  Jana and her husband George raised two children.

Early in her life Jana was interested in photography, and when the children were growing up, she always kept her camera handy.  But her most favorite subject was nature.

The photography kept her going after her husband passed away, and after she retired in the summer of 2000, she spends most of her time with the camera.

Besides photography, Jana also loves to hike, camp, canoe and kayak, and travel  Her work has been published in several books and magazines, including National Wildlife's Ranger Rick, Reminisce, This Old Barn, Wisconsin Trails, Wisconsin Northwoods tourist brochures,  and various calendars and postcards.

Jana now lives in West Virginia, close to her son.  She spends her spare time translating into English the books her grandfather wrote about his explorations in Africa in the late 1880's.