Rena Krasno was born in Shanghai, China in 1923. Her parents, two stateless Russian Jews, fled Russia two years before her birth. Krasno grew up in a Jewish community in Shanghai and attended the French Municipal College where she earned her Brevet Superieur and Baccalaureate (Philosophy Section). She later entered the Faculty of Medicine at the Jesuit Aurora University (now called Shanghai School of Medicine #2), where she studied for two years during World War II. She left Shanghai for Israel in April of 1949, just one month before communist forces took over the city.

Due to Krasno's language skills in English, French, Russian, Hebrew, Spanish, and German, she was able to obtain a prestigious position as translator for the United Nations. She also worked as a freelance interpreter for international organizations (Unesco, ILO, FAO, the Olympic Committee at the Winter Games in Sapporo, etc.) in Europe and Asia. In Japan, Krasno was a frequent interpreter for the National Institute of Educational Research (Tokyo) and worked for Simul International and I.S.S., and also served as Honorary Chancellor of Austria in Seoul, Korea.

Krasno was also a published author. She wrote several books about wartime in Shanghai, her life in Japan, and her Jewish heritage as well as essays regarding Jewish and Chinese history. One book in particular entitled, That Last Glorious Summer, 1939: Shanghai-Japan, is based on Krasno's diary as a young teenager on a summer vacation in Japan on the eve of war. Additionally, Krasno shared her life experience and historical knowledge as a guest speaker for numerous organizations such as the Jewish Working Women's Network of the Jewish Federation of the Sacramento Region. Krasno died in 2009.