Originally from Alexandria, Louisiana and a 1984 graduate of Holy Savior Menard Central High School, Dona attended college at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. She spent her junior year studying abroad in Mons, Belgium on a CODOFIL Scholarship. Dona graduated magna cum laude with Bachelor of Arts degrees in French and English in 1988, where she was honored as the Most Outstanding Graduate. In 1989, Dona enrolled in Tulane University School of Law in New Orleans, during which she participated in the Juvenile Law Clinic, which enabled her to handle cases pending in juvenile court for Orleans Parish under the supervision of a licensed attorney. Upon graduating from Tulane Law School in 1992, Dona began working for the Legal Service Corporation, specializing in representation of victims of domestic abuse. In 1994, she returned to Lafayette and continued a Family Law practice until joining an insurance defense firm where she developed a specialty in general casualty and employment law, specifically workers' compensation and Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act claims. She joined Huval Veazey Felder & Aertker, L.L.C. in January of 2006. Her practice is concentrated in the areas of Louisiana Workers' Compensation Act claims, Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act claims, automobile liability and premises liability.

Dona is a member of the Lafayette Parish and Louisiana State Bar Associations and the American Inn of Court. She was chosen as Louisiana's Outstanding Young Lawyer for 1999 and was selected to be a Fellow of the Louisiana Bar Foundation in 2000. Dona currently serves as Chair of the Louisiana Young Lawyers Section and in that capacity serves on the Board of Governors for the Louisiana State Bar Association. Dona is also a member of the American Bar Association and is licensed to practice before the United States Supreme Court, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal, all federal district courts and all state courts
in Louisiana.