Kazan Governorate
Gala was born as Elena Ivanovna Diakonova (Russian: Елена Ивановна Дьяконова) in Kazan, Kazan Governorate, Russian Empire, to a family of intellects. Among her childhood friends was the poet Marina Tsvetaeva. She began working as a school-teacher in 1915, at which time she was living in Moscow.