Dana Elise Watson is an adjunct professor of media writing for the School of Communications and an online education support specialist for Virginia Tech Pesticide Programs.

Watson earned her bachelor’s degree in mass communication from The University of Southern Mississippi in 2005. In 2022, she graduated with a master’s degree from The University of Alabama in digital and social media marketing. 

Watson was born and raised in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. There, she started her broadcast and film career with the United Methodist Hour in 2006. In 2008, she worked as a full-time broadcast photographer, and videographer and print journalist at Camp Shelby until 2014. Watson then moved to Missouri and produced a National Guard Television program, which garnered over a million viewers. The following year, she worked as a news editor for WQAD in Moline, Illinois.

Watson participated in many independent films as a director and costumier. In 2011, her feature film, "Cagin of Chrysaint," acquired commercial distribution. The film received accolades at film festivals, including an award for Best Costuming and five other nominations. In 2015, Watson’s competing screenplay pitch earned a spot in the top 40 of Lionsgate and Women in Film’s sponsored competition “New Creative Voices of the Twilight Saga.” While residing in Birmingham, Alabama from 2016 – 2019, she worked on ten indie film and video projects as a wardrobe supervisor, producer, and set decorator. She served as the wardrobe supervisor for the feature film "Hellbilly Hollow" and paid extra on the major motion picture, "I Still Believe."