Yana's experience with theatre has shaped her and taught her a lot. "Theatre is my school . . . it's teaching me in other ways I don't think I could get," she said in an interview with Mixed Mag. "Why am I trying to fit in this box of academia that doesn't work for me anymore!" She ended up dropping out of college to pursue Broadway, and feels that if she hadn't, she isn't sure if "Broadway would have happened, at least not this soon."