In 1987, she graduated from the Secondary Technical School of Civil Engineering in Opava, majoring in building construction. In 2017, she successfully completed the MBA – Corporate Management program at the Ostrava branch of the BRITISH INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, s.r.o., which focuses on management and law.

In 2002, she was asked to run for the municipal council. On her first attempt, she was elected to both the municipal council and the municipal board and became chair of the finance committee. In 2006, she was re-elected to the municipal council and board and became a member of the audit committee. In January 2010, she was elected mayor of Mořkov, a position she assumed during the final year of the 2006–2010 term following the death of the long-serving mayor. She retained this position in the regular municipal elections in the fall of 2010 and served as mayor until September 2023. After being elected to the Senate, she resigned from her position as mayor, but her interest in the development and prosperity of the municipality has not waned. She continues to serve on the municipal council and the municipal board and is a member of the finance committee.

She takes a keen interest in the state of the environment and is actively involved in its improvement. In the Senate, she served as chair of the Subcommittee on Regions in Transition and is now a member of that subcommittee. She consistently draws the attention of political representatives in the Senate plenary to the need to assist the three regions undergoing transformation. She currently serves as Vice-Chair of the Senate’s Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee. She is primarily responsible for drafting reports on social issues, a field close to her heart.

In 2018, she won first place in the "Our Female Politician" competition, organized by the KDU-ČSL Women's Association. In 2019, she won third place in the fourth annual nationwide “Promising Female Politician” competition organized by Forum 50%, o.p.s. She received the award at the U.S. Embassy in the Czech Republic.

Thanks to the support and understanding of her family, she devotes herself fully to all her activities, applying her experience, opinions, and perspectives to them.

She enjoys folk music and playing the piano. She has led a church choir and directs the annual Live Nativity Scene. Her great passion is reading fiction. She has been elected mayor of the Mořkov Volunteer Fire Department for the second time. Ivana Váňová is married, has two children, and four grandchildren.

She lives by a quote from Winston Churchill: “Do you want to stand out in the world? You must work while others are having fun.”