Community Highlights: Meet Dana Pluss Parks of DPP Communications & Coaching

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dana Pluss Parks.

Hi Dana, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
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 several internships at mental facilities and institutions, I realized I couldn’t separate the personal stories of the clients with my own life and well-being. 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 moved to Washington, DC and got a job at FleishmanHillard Public Affairs. I started off as an executive assistant and then moved into a role as an interactive assistant and then moved up as an account associate. I worked on the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy media campaign and several government relations accounts. I learned about media relations, public affairs, investor relations and media events and conferences. However, as a Colorado native, I always missed the mountains and weather during my time in the east coast and decided to move back to Colorado in 2000.

At that time, I got a job at Metzer Associates Public Relations in Boulder, CO and operated as a primary and secondary client contact for high-tech and telecom companies. During my time at Metzger, I wrote new business proposals, account strategy plans, client status reports and press materials. I learned how to manage various client accounts and managed workflow and team deadlines. After deciding to move back down to Denver and commute to Boulder for several years, I wanted to find a job that was more local.

In 2002, I began working at Scream Agency Advertising and PR as the PR director. During my 7 years at Scream, I learned about managing accounts in the consumer, technology and B2B spaces. I was responsible for handling the strategy, day-to-day operations and garnering results with clients to help with the bottomline. At time time, I developed strong relationships with local, regional and national media contacts and attended various conferences and trade shows throughout the country. In 2009, I decided it was time to go off on my own and start my own business.

At this time DPP Communications was born. I started slow and had some overlap of clients from Scream and then realized I really wanted to move into the food & beverage, hospitality, fashion, wellness, arts and nonprofit spaces. I loved all of these things in my personal life so why shouldn’t I work with these types of clients all of the time. With the Denver restaurant, arts and hospitality scene booming in 2010, my client roster began to build. I would provide 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. To date, I have helped 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.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I have been so fortunate and my business has taken off via word-of-mouth. However, in 2020 and with COVID everything stopped in the hospitality industry resulting in a loss of all of my business. At this time, I decided to pivot and sign up to get my Certified Professional Coach (CPC) certification. 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 am excited for this new chapter and a new way to enhance my business and service offerings.

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about DPP Communications & Coaching ?
Based in Denver, Colorado, DPP Communications & Coaching is a multi-faceted communications consultancy and 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.

The agency’s mission is to provide dedicated personal attention, strategic relationships and impeccable results to clients, 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 from the industry.

Owner, Dana Pluss Parks, a leadership & professional coach, public relations writer, media connector and event planner, brings well over two decades of putting the power of the written word and social networking to work for her clients.

What Makes DPP Different:
Relationships: We have them. Everywhere. And in a variety of industries including travel, business, food & beverage, restaurants, retail, non-profit, meetings and events, lifestyle, luxury, wedding, broadcast, green and more.

Coaching: In 2021, DPP Communications added Leadership & Professional Coaching to its list of services. The team is offering the ultimate tailored leadership for its partners. Client work one-on-one with Dana Pluss Parks, a Certified Professional Coach (CPC) on their professional and personal goals and challenges as well as personal strengths and any areas for development.

Experience: DPP has specialized in the niche of luxury travel, hospitality and lifestyle for over fifteen years. With clients in all levels of the lifestyle industry, DPP has expertise in launching dozens of PR campaigns in hundreds of different verticals and industries.

Seniority: Our team is comprised entirely of senior-level publicists who love what they do.

360° Approach: We look at all potential methods of promoting a client by implementing high level strategies and thus garnering unmatched results.

We Are Lean and Mean: DPP’s business model has very low overhead which means our budgets are lean and our work ethic is mean.

What’s next?
As mentioned earlier, in 2021, DPP Communications added Leadership & Professional Coaching to its list of services. The team is offering the ultimate tailored leadership for its partners. Clients work one-on-one with Dana Pluss Parks, a Certified Professional Coach (CPC) on their professional and personal goals and challenges as well as personal strengths and any areas for development. This is a new chapter and new service offering and the company hopes to bring in different and unique clients and organizations.

Contact Info:

• Email: dana@dppcommunications.com
• Website: www.dppcommunications.com
• Instagram: @dppcommunications
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dppcommunications
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/dppcommdenver

Image Credits:
Le Bilboquet – Emily Teater Photography Ocean Prime Denver Ocean Prime DTC Hotel Magnolia DH Friedman Hilton Denver Inverness Blo Blow Dry Bar Denver BBQ Fest Ascent Living Communities