Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Dana Pluss Parks . We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Dana, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What were some of the most unexpected problems you’ve faced in your business and how did you resolve those issues?
For over 13 years, DPP Communications has provided lifestyle and consumer clients with strategic counsel, public relations planning, executive visibility campaigns, media relations, social media, product launches, event & community relations as well as trade show support. We have landed clients in hundreds of international, national and local print, broadcast and online media outlets including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Newsweek, Gourmet, Travel + Leisure Sunset, Denver Post, Westword, 5280, Denver Magazine and many more.
The company contracts senior-level publicists and our mission is to provide comprehensive public relations, executive coaching, dedicated personal attention, strategic relationships and impeccable results to clients. We do this while fostering an atmosphere of creativity and personal growth for the agency’s freelance contractors. This unique business structure works on multiple levels, allowing DPP to keep overhead low, thereby permitting more flexibility in client budgets, while drawing on a pool of the most talented publicists in the industry.
However, in 2020 and with COVID everything stopped in the lifestyle and hospitality industries resulting in a loss of ALL of our business. All of the company contractors were also forced to stop working and the company was put into survival mode.
At this time, I decided to pivot and obtain my Certified Professional Coach (CPC) certification, which was something I was looking into for several years. I took the time during 2020-2021 to learn new skills and work on my professional and personal goals and challenges as well as personal strengths and areas for development. I believe everyone can use a trusted advisor to help create a personal vision of success and then be accountable to that vision.
DPP Communications is now back up and running and several PR clients have come back, the seasoned contractors have come back to work on numerous accounts and we now offer leadership and professional coaching to our list of services. Many teams and individuals are taking advantage of this service to help them get unstuck, achieve a breakthrough, and realize their goals.
Dana, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
DPP Communications & Coaching is a multi-faceted communications consultancy and executive coaching firm that offers various services including: leadership & professional coaching, public relations, strategic counsel, copywriting, marketing, social media, product launches, advertising and design counsel, event planning and community relations.
In 1998, I graduated from Syracuse University with a Bachelors of Science in Human Development and Family Studies. I had taken several psychology classes and thought I wanted to be a child psychologist. However, after numerous internships at mental facilities and institutions, I realized I couldn’t separate the personal stories of the clients with my own life and wellbeing. Therefore, when I was a senior in college I did an internship at the Child Care Council of Onondaga County in Syracuse, NY and helped them with their PR and marketing. Following that internship, I got the PR bug and decided this is where I wanted to head.
After graduation, I spent years working for PR and Advertising agencies in Washington, DC and Colorado handling their PR and promotional needs. In 2009, DPP Communications was born when I got the itch to start my own company. With the boom of the Denver restaurant, arts and hospitality scene in 2010, my client roster began to build. I have provided lifestyle clients with strategic counsel, public relations planning, executive visibility campaigns, media relations, social media, product launches, event relations as well as tradeshow support. I have landed my clients in hundreds of international, national and local print, broadcast and online media outlets including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Newsweek, Gourmet, Travel + Leisure Sunset, Denver Post, Westword, 5280, Denver Magazine and many more.
In 2021, I decided I wanted to incorporate my psychology background with my client base so I became a certified professional coach (CPC) through iPEC, an ICF-Accredited Coach Training Program. Leadership and professional coaching is now offered as another service to DPP clients. For over two decades I have helped client’s work on their external brand identity, now was the time to help them work on their internal brand identities. To date, I have helped several clients gain an outside perspective, address personal and professional challenges, and build a more fulfilling, well-rounded life. This in turn will help them generate more sales, have better interpersonal skills and improved external relationships and business leads.
With my extensive PR and marketing background and my recent leadership and professional coaching skills, I look forward to many more years of helping clients succeed in their professional and personal goals and growth.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
From 1998-2009, I worked for a number of large and small PR firms in Washington, DC and Colorado. I represented clients in various industries including government relations, public policy, technology, consumer goods, outdoor recreation, B2B, B2C, lifestyle, hospitality, food & beverage, nonprofit and more. Through this work, I was able to create lasting relationships with media and clients that in turn helped me build my reputation within these industries.
When I launched DPP Communications in 2009, I already had built a foundation of connections which led me to land new clients and new opportunities. I believe my superpower is human connection and clients felt a trust and loyalty which led to many amazing partnerships. I was fortunate to get all of my clients through word-of-mouth and was able build my client roster pretty quickly.
Being a Denver native, I used my connections to market myself, my business and services. When I became a Certified Professional Coach, I used the same methodology to get coaching clients, teams and businesses. I believe relationships and connection are the key to success.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
For more than a decade, DPP Communications client roster consisted of several businesses in the lifestyle and hospitality industries. Most of these clients were restaurants, hotels and salons. In 2020 when the COVID pandemic hit the world, all of these clients were either forced to close or permanently shut down. This resulted in a loss of ALL DPP Communications clients. This also resulted in all of the senior level consultants to lose work from the agency.
At the time, we went into panic and lockdown like the rest of the world. The company filed for unemployment and a PPP loan. After having an internal pity party, I decided to pivot and obtain my Certified Professional Coach (CPC) certification, which was something I was looking into for several years. I took the time during 2020-2021 to learn new skills and work on my professional and personal goals and challenges as well as personal strengths and areas for development. I believe everyone can use a trusted advisor to help create a personal vision of success and then be accountable to that vision. Coaching is the secret weapon high performers use to help them get unstuck, achieve a breakthrough, and realize their goals.
I continue to use a coach myself and have learned and grown more in the past several years than I did in the past several decades of owning a thriving business. I believe anyone can create their own happiness and achieve their goals when they put in the work and put their mind to it. I love this quote below:
“It’s your reaction to adversity, not adversity itself that determines how your life’s story will develop.”
― Dieter F. Uchtdorf
Contact Info:
- Website: www.dppcommunications.com
- Instagram: @dppcommunications
- Facebook: @dppcommunications
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dana-pluss-parks-cpc-5664322/
- Twitter: @DPPCommDenver
Image Credits
DPP Communications & Coaching, LLC