. >> reporter: miraculously, yanina didn't inhale enough poison to die. she worked as a slave, sorting through dead bodies. after six years of imprisonment, she was freed at 16 by japanese combat team. she looked like a skeleton. >> i climbed up on the tank, the american tank, and wrapped myself up with american flag and yelled to everybody that we are free. >> reporter: yanina has been telling her story to bay area college groups. >> i have nightmares of those stories, but then second day after speech, everything calmed down, and i realized the gorgeous world this s. >> reporter: karen mccort, ethnic studies professor regularly invites yanina to speak. >> people across cultures can relate to what she's saying, because it is a story of strength and a story of survival. >> reporter: this student says hearing her powerful story makes her problems seem small. >> the spirit and uplifting smile and her personality, all of that stuff, it makes the story more motivational. >> reporter: after she was freed, yanina studied in paris and became a ballerina. today sh