Dana White started her career in 1986, after graduating from the Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara, as a production staff associate in Gene Roddenberry's production office at Paramount Pictures, where she resided for two years, helping out with the pre-production of Star Trek: The Next Generation. She apparently enjoyed a warm working relationship with Roddenberry as evidenced by a remark of Michael Okuda, "I remember when you built that beautiful Ertl Enterprise-D for Gene Roddenberry. It sat proudly on the shelf in his office for the rest of his life." [1] (That model was sold in Julien's Star Auction Trek of 27 June 2010 as part of Roddenberry's estate.)

After her stint there she was promoted to the art department, where she resided another two years until 1989 when she moved over to Greg Jein, Inc. While there, she worked with others on the studio models of the 2½-foot Galileo-type shuttlecraft, the four-foot USS Enterprise-D, and the USS Princeton. [2] By her own admission, White relished her time at Jein's company, "Long history, but enjoyed working for Greg. Not only was it hard and extremely challenging in many ways, but it was FUN and CRAZY!" [3]

Captain Dana White was named after her.

White is married to Seaquest DSV effects supervisor Micheal Shea. She is currently, together with her husband, operating her own company Circle Shea Designs, LLC. [4]