Today we’d like to introduce you to Danaya Wilson.
Danaya, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I started my career during the 2007 recession, entering the workforce with a marketing degree and finding limited opportunities in a volatile job market. With few doors open, I joined my parents’ newly launched hazardous materials company and worked my way up from Administrative Assistant to Corporate Branch Manager, leading the company through a record-breaking year with over $7.2 million in revenue.
In 2015, after completing my Master’s degree in Organizational Leadership and Online Learning Innovation from Colorado State University, I founded CHC Training (now BetterCertify) to modernize compliance training in the construction and environmental industries. At the time, online learning in the trades was practically nonexistent. I bootstrapped nights and weekends to build a platform that not only digitized the content but preserved the hands-on, high-engagement feel of in-person instruction.
I knew we could do better—for learners, for regulators, and for the future of the industry.
Since then, BetterCertify has grown into Colorado’s largest environmental training facility, serving thousands of professionals annually across all 50 states and, as of 2024, Canada. We are known for pushing the boundaries of what is possible in regulatory education: pioneering the first 100% online AHERA asbestos refresher courses, developing the country’s first hybrid EPA Lead Inspector training, and becoming the only provider with full regulatory approval in Colorado for lead abatement certification.
At the same time, I’ve made it my mission to open more doors for women in the trades—through advocacy, systems redesign, and writing. My new book, *Changemakers Wanted*, published in partnership with Forbes, challenges CEOs to take responsibility for the childcare crisis and workplace inequity by restructuring benefits and leading with empathy and action.
I now serve as the President-Elect on the board of the Environmental Information Association, mentor emerging professionals, and lead a team that is not just educating the workforce—but transforming how it learns. Through every challenge, I’ve held onto the belief that training should be accessible, inclusive, and designed with real humans in mind. That belief continues to fuel everything we build.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has rarely been smooth—and I think that is true for anyone building something original.
Right now, I am in a season of flux. Every time we unlock a major achievement—whether it is a groundbreaking regulatory approval, a strategic partnership, or a significant sales milestone—it seems to trigger a new wave of change. Success demands evolution, and I often find myself celebrating one win while simultaneously needing to restructure teams, adapt systems, or rethink processes to support that growth.
That constant recalibration can be exhausting. We are not just growing—we are doing so in a field that is tightly regulated, slow to adapt, and dependent on forces outside our control. I am always watching the economic and political landscape: What bills are being passed? What workforce trends are emerging? Are states going to restrict or support online learning this year? These questions have real consequences on the stability and viability of our programs.
Lately, I’ve also felt the weight of keeping pace with rapid advancements in AI and digital learning. As an innovator, I want to be ahead of the curve, not scrambling behind it—but scaling fast enough to stay competitive, especially as a self-funded company, is a constant tension. There is pressure to do more, do it better, and do it faster—but without compromising the quality, compliance-forward, and learner-centric values we are known for.
That is the tightrope I walk every day: innovation versus sustainability, vision versus bandwidth. And while I am proud of how far we have come, I would be lying if I said I did not worry about how far we still need to go to truly make the impact I know we are capable of.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
BetterCertify—formerly CHC Training—is a modern occupational certification company that specializes in compliance and safety training for the trades. We offer in-person, virtual, and online instruction in environmental health disciplines like asbestos, lead, mold, and OSHA safety. But what truly sets us apart is how we deliver that training.
Our courses are not dry, box-checking experiences. We are known for high-retention, high-engagement learning built for real people, especially adult learners who may not have had positive experiences in traditional education settings. We integrate methods like gamification, infographics, and scenario-based learning to meet the needs of visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners. Whether someone is renewing a license or entering the trades for the first time, our goal is to make the material not only accessible, but impactful.
What makes us different is our commitment to pushing this historically rigid, slow-moving industry into the modern era. We were the first to create fully online, EPA-approved courses for asbestos refresher training. In 2025, we became the first company to receive approval for our hybrid version of the EPA Lead Inspector course, bridging the gap between field application and online learning. And in 2024, we expanded internationally into Canada with two regulatory approvals.
Our team is incredibly proud of our reputation with regulators. Gaining respect in this space is hard-earned and slow-moving. The fact that states who once rejected our methods now reach out to collaborate on regulation development—that is one of our greatest brand milestones.
But beyond compliance, BetterCertify is really about opening doors. Our training equips workers to get jobs, keep jobs, and advance their careers. We are creating economic mobility through education, and doing it in a way that respects the learner. We are especially focused on expanding access for underrepresented groups—those with limited education, caretaking obligations, or travel restrictions. Training should meet people where they are, and that’s what we build for.
If readers take one thing away about BetterCertify, I hope it is this: we are not just a training company. We are a changemaking company. We believe that when the workforce learns better, the entire industry rises.
Any big plans?
The future for BetterCertify is about deepening impact and expanding access, both in how we train and who we reach.
One of the most exciting developments is the release of my book, Changemakers Wanted, published in partnership with Forbes. It is part manifesto, part workbook, designed to empower women in leadership to challenge outdated workplace norms and take bold, practical steps toward equity—from instilling flexibility in our workplaces to addressing the childcare crisis. The book is a natural extension of our brand’s ethos: empowering individuals, disrupting systems, and building something better than what we inherited.
From a business standpoint, we are investing heavily in creating more user-friendly learning experiences. That means courses that are visually engaging, easy to navigate, mobile-responsive, and designed with the adult learner in mind. We want to make it easier for people to access the training they need—anytime, anywhere.
We are also celebrating a major milestone: Texas has officially approved our asynchronous online asbestos refresher courses, adding to our already-approved classroom and synchronous (live remote) options. This full range of delivery methods gives workers in Texas more flexibility than ever to meet compliance requirements on their own terms—a model we are working to replicate in other states.
Another area of growth is our custom course development services. More and more organizations are coming to us looking for workforce preparation tools that align with their brand, safety values, and compliance goals. A great example is the project we completed for U-Haul last year, where we created a tailored, interactive course suite specifically for their internal safety training needs. What sets us apart is our unique ability to blend field expertise with instructional design and regulatory accuracy. We know how to teach technical content because we have lived it—and we know how to deliver it in a way that’s modern, measurable, and meaningful.
Looking ahead, we are building for scale. But we are doing it thoughtfully—always with the learner in mind, and always in partnership with the organizations, regulators, and Changemakers who believe training should unlock opportunity, not create obstacles.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.danayawilson.com
- Instagram: danayanwilson
- Facebook: DanayaWilson
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danaya-wilson/
- Other: https://www.bettercertify.com
Image Credits
1. Aubrey Hix
2. Professional Storytelling
