Native to the Central Coast of California and San Luis Obispo County, Danika majored in Dairy Science with a minor in Agriculture Business at Cal Poly SLO. There, she gained hands-on experience with the campus milk processing plant making butter, ice cream and, of course, cheese. Danika also established a retail market presence within the Central Coast community culminating in 12 grocery stores carrying Cal Poly Dairy products. She went on to a successful cheese industry career that included purchasing, marketing, national sales, commodity trading and brokering cheese for companies in Los Angeles, Wisconsin and Central Valley (Hilmar Cheese.) Eventually, Danika decided to come back to her roots and follow her dream of business ownership, opening Vivant Fine Cheese in 2006 and serving the local Paso Robles wine region ever since.