A direct descendant of the Wahpeton-Sisseton and Mdewakanton Dakota tribes and lifetime Minnesota native, Dana has worked for over a decade within the food sovereignty movement. She has traveled extensively throughout tribal communities, engaging in critical ways to improve food access and implementing strategies to do the most possible good as a social entrepreneur.

Throughout the last decade as co-owner and Chief Operating Officer of The Sioux Chef, Dana was honored to have managed all business development strategies for the company including a thriving catering arm, global guest chef and community events as well as the beloved Tatanka Truck. In July 2021, Dana co-founded the Owamni restaurant, Minnesota’s first full-service Indigenous restaurant. In 2022, and at a time when Dana was part-owner, the restaurant Owamni won the James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant. In late 2023, the nonprofit NATIFS acquired Owamni to be run as a not-for-profit and Thompson left to pursue her newest projects.

In 2018, Dana co-founded the nonprofit NĀTIFS (North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems) and the Indigenous Food Lab, where she served as Executive Director for five years, eventually transitioning to Senior Director of Health and Wellness Initiatives. Here she focused her expertise on addressing and treating ancestral trauma through decolonized perspectives of honoring and leveraging Indigenous wisdom to foster mental health. She has since moved onto developing other projects including Heti and the food sovereignty company The Modern Indigenous.