Lea earned a BA in Chemistry from Bemidji State University in 1989 and Masters in Tribal Administration and Governance (MTAG) from the University of Minnesota Duluth in 2013. She is an enrolled member of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians.
Lea worked as the Executive Administrator for the Red Lake Nation from 2004-2014 for Floyd Jourdain Jr. Previous to that appointment, she worked at the Minnesota Department of Education, Office of Indian Education as a Grants Specialist from 1994-2004. She has extensive experience in program management and development, scholarship programs and evaluation. She has taught Anatomy and Physiology as an Adjunct faculty for Northwest Technical College. She has also taken graduate classes in Education at Bemidji State University.
