Dana Holahan was born and raised in New Haven and graduated from Wesleyan University, where she wrote an honors thesis about Chilean land reform. She spent more than a decade in Chile as an environmental journalist, translator, and disarmament researcher, and did graduate work in Latin American studies and arts management at the University of Chile. After returning to the U.S., she has worked as a Spanish professor, director of professional development for an early childhood nonprofit, and project coordinator at the Broad Center. A lifelong environmentalist, Dana holds a master naturalist certificate and has been a leader on the boards of two local organizations focused on environmental stewardship and climate resilience.