Dena was born and raised in Illinois and received her Bachelors of Science in Integrative Biology at the University of Illinois. She graduated with distinction from her research in the field of human genetics. Dena lived in Ecuador for 5 months where she learned Spanish and participated in multiple research projects. The locations in which she has lived and conducted research include the Galapagos Islands, the Amazon Rainforest, and the Andes mountains. She also completed an internship on the coast of Ecuador in a poor community and then started a charity and returned to finish her projects there (www.teamtabuga.com). After graduating college, Dena moved to San Francisco, CA to work as a Laboratory Technician conducting Breast Cancer research at the University of California in San Francisco. Growing up, Dena was a classically trained vocalist and actress. She sang Opera and performed in various musicals and plays both locally and professionally in Chicago. She liked to be both in front of and behind the camera, and in 2009, she started her freelance photography company (denamarahphotography.com). In 2013, Dena will be attending the University of California Irvine to obtain a Master's Degree in Genetic Counseling.