Dana grew up in the Kherson region — she spent her childhood in a village near Nova Kakhovka and finished her schooling at the lyceum in Kherson. In 2020, she entered the Institute of Journalism of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv to study advertising and public relations. She was a copywriter at the ‘Hurry Up! Ukraine’ project, and at the university, she was a part of the information department of the student parliament of the institute. She learned about USF in 2023 from a neighbor on the train, and two months later, after the Leadership Program, she joined as an activist.

‘Freedom is about having a choice. But it is also to be aware of the responsibility that falls on you. It means to be free to do what you think is right and to have the courage to accept the consequences. I entered the USF with this conviction, and now this community only amplifies it.’