Hailing from San Francisco’s East Bay Area, Dana has lived and worked in San Mateo County since 2017. Her tenure at the Commission on the Status of Women began in 2018, and she remains dedicated to promoting awareness and resources that support the diversity of women’s and girls' experiences throughout the County.
Dana has a deep connection to and belief in public education, having attended the University of California for both her undergraduate and graduate training. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from UC Santa Cruz with degrees in literature and feminist studies and earned her PhD from UCLA’s Department of Comparative Literature. During her time as a Bruin, Dana helped lead new teacher training and curriculum initiatives for the department and taught coursework spanning the full range of the interdisciplinary humanities. She also served as an advisor to the multi-campus UC Humanists@Work Initiative.
Dana previously worked with Oakland nonprofits and organizations that advocate for people and communities impacted by the California prison system. She credits her early professional engagement in this work to her participation in UCSC’s Inside Out Writing Project, which made palpable how storytelling can provide meaningful access to worlds beyond imagination.
Today, Dana continues to draw on her versatile academic and teaching background to advance corporate communications and learning in the Bay Area tech sector. She supports technology’s role in facilitating educational access to a variety of learners and is currently completing a certificate in instructional design at San Francisco State University.
A Burlingame resident, Dana enjoys exploring her local and regional communities through running, hiking, and the performing arts. She can be found frequently along the coast and with a book in hand.
