 | | | Dana Green, Business Person of the Year, pictured with her family, from left: daughter, Kendall, son, Brad, Dana and Todd Green. Photo provided | | | | | | For Lafayette Realtor Dana Green, it is all about community. In fact it is her love and appreciation of community in Lafayette that drives all she accomplishes and is a large part of why she is so deserving of this year's Business Person of the Year award.
Green needs no introduction to many in the Lamorinda area. She has been the No. 1 Realtor in Lafayette for nine consecutive years, as well as No. 1 in Contra Costa County for seven consecutive years and No. 1 in Lamorinda for six consecutive years.
She has been named No. 47 in the Wall Street Journal's Top 1,000 agents in the nation and No. 6 in the San Francisco Bay Area by San Francisco Magazine and the Luxury Marketing Council. For the past five consecutive years Green has been the recipient of the Five Star Professional Award.
But the awards and accolades, while an indicator of her business savvy, don't tell the whole story.
The lifelong Lafayette resident, who attended Burton Valley Elementary School, Stanley Middle School and Campolindo High School and graduated from the University of the Pacific traces her love and appreciation of the Lafayette community back to her early years as a teenager when she and her two sisters lost their mother to cancer. Green says the family was so supported by the amazing community at that time and again, seven years ago, when her father passed away.
Now at the head of a successful realty business, Green is committed to giving back to the community she loves. Most recently the Dana Green Team partnered with the nonprofit Grateful Gatherings to sponsor a chapter event in which they provided furnishing for two families transitioning out of homelessness. "The entire team worked all day to set up the homes. It was exhausting but so rewarding," said Green.
Additionally Green is a huge supporter of schools and donates to Lafayette Partners in Education with every house sale they make and is a major sponsor of LPIE's auction fundraiser. She supports the Lafayette Library and Learning Center, UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland and the Lafayette Chamber of Commerce as a sponsor of the annual holiday lights and "It's a Wonderful Life in Lafayette" event.
Green also sponsors the Lafayette Juniors' Annual Kitchen Tour, having started that event herself over 18 years ago when she was chairperson of the major fundraiser.
Green feels very connected to the community. She says there are reminders all over the city of her family's involvement - her father, who worked in industrial/commercial real estate, volunteered on the Parks and Recreation Commission and was instrumental in establishing the bike trail. Her mother worked as an aid at Burton Valley Elementary School.
Green and her husband have two grown children, away at college. She says she loves to walk their golden retriever at the reservoir and counts among her interests gardening and interior design. She also counts her job among her interests, as she so loves what she does.
After college Green started a marketing and public relations company, Green Marketing. Next she drew on her love of interior design and formed a staging company, Tailored House Inc., marketing homes through staging and from there it was only a matter of time until she got her real estate license.
To Green, the progression of her career is a continuation of her marketing and PR start. "PR is a big part of what I do," says Green, explaining that just as advertising is telling a story, so too is selling a house. "You are telling the story of the home."
Green says that selling real estate in Lafayette is unique because there are no "cookie cutter" homes. "You are not selling model A, B or C. Everything is older, different, with remodels and updates." So she says that her team needs to understand the homes and the neighborhoods as they match clients to find the perfect fit.
Green clearly does it well. "If you love the community you want to do it right." She says that relationships are huge for her, explaining that she strives to be her clients' realtor for life, to be a resource for them.
Green credits her team - she has five licensed Realtors working with her, including her husband, Todd, a real estate attorney, as well as staging, marketing and administrative staff. She says that she is surrounded by wonderful and talented individuals on the team that make her look good. Green explains that it takes a team of people to stage, market and promote homes. Alone, she says, she would only be able to sell one home at a time. The team now has roughly 98 transactions per year.
Green's longtime friend, who also now works as a consultant in brand and operations for The Green Team, Ann Marie Quinn says that for her the best way to sum it up is Green's unwavering passion for the Lafayette community. "All aspects, not only a particular neighborhood or restaurant or business - but her optimism, her ability to connect people and businesses in various ways, and her desire for all to succeed and to fully enjoy being part of a true community."
Of being named Business Person of the Year, Green says she is honored. "It is humbling. I am grateful to so many people and appreciative of the people who nominated me and to the Lafayette Chamber of Commerce for all they do."
"I owe so much to this community for their support and belief in me," she says. "How lucky is that, to be embraced by a community for a whole life?"
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA