Shanna started out as an Army brat, living in multiple states (and countries), but fell in love with the Pacific Northwest when she moved out to Sitka, Alaska for her undergraduate degree. She earned her law degree from the University of Idaho College of Law in 2013, with emphases in Native American law and environmental law, while also serving the Nez Perce Tribe as an intern and later as a legal researcher on wide-ranging issues, including governance, land use, and natural resources law.
Since then Shanna served several tribal governments while working at a firm in Washington, D.C., including advising tribes on economic development matters such as trademarks for tribal enterprises, contracts that protected tribal sovereign immunity, and land purchases. Her favorite work, though, was assisting with an agreement that protected cultural resources on private property while still allowing for safe economic development by the property owners. After returning to the Northwest, she worked at a nonprofit as a legal expert and volunteered with the SBLC to help clients with contracts and trademarks. Now at the SBLC full-time, Shanna looks forward to expanding her practice to serve more small businesses, including Indigenous entrepreneurs in rural Oregon.