In 1919, Pogány moved to Hamburg, Germany, and studied the Mensendieck system of physical education. On receiving her diploma, two years later she joined her brother Willy Pogany in the United States. She worked as a fitness instructor in New York City and naturalized in 1929. Her networks included many feminists and theater people. In 1954, she wrote an influential cookbook about Hungarian cooking, which was republished posthumously in 1997. She is primarily remembered for her activism as an international feminist and pacifist.