Ana was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, and grew up in Salt Lake City, San Francisco, and Guadalajara, Mexico. During college she took general coursework at Salt Lake Community College, studied art at Parsons School of Design in New York, Otis College of Art and Design and FIDM in Los Angeles (AA Visual Art), and graphic design at California College of the Arts in San Francisco. She graduated from the University of Utah with a degree in communication.

Upon graduation Ana moved to Mexico City, where she worked as a graphic designer and restored an apartment in a historic building. She returned to Salt Lake City with a new sense of appreciation of history and has since dedicated herself to photography, salvaging, and rebuilding furniture.