Salutatorian, National Merit Scholar, and Robert Byrd Honor Scholarship were achievements by Yanna at Downey High School. After graduation, she attended UC Berkeley receiving a BS in Molecular and Cell Biology with Phi Beta Kappa status. In 2003 she completed her Juris Doctor at Stanford Law School. Before law school Yanna worked in the biotechnology industry in the areas of genetics, real-time PCR and HIV diagnostics for Harvard Medical School. Currently, she is working as an intellectual property lawyer as a partner at Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear, LLP, one of the largest intellectual property law firms in the United States. Yanna has handled the damages case in several high-strakes patent litigation matters.