Meet Dana
Dana Barrett is a small business owner, former tech executive, an award-winning TV, radio, & podcast host, the 2020 Democratic Nominee for US Congress for Georgia’s 11th District.
She currently serves as a Fulton County Commissioner, hosts The Local Option Podcast, and runs DB Media, a boutique communications consulting firm.
Career
Dana began her career in the technology field starting out in client side services after college. Then, after teaching herself to code, she became a programmer and eventually worked her way up the ranks to Vice President of Technology. With that experience under her belt, Dana became an entrepreneur, starting her own tech consulting firm, and later opening a bookstore/coffee shop in downtown Roswell, GA.
In 2010, after her daughter left for college, Dana knew she wanted to do work that had an impact, so she changed careers and moved into the media eventually landing a daily talk radio show, and a TV hosting gig on the local NBC affiliate.
As a talk radio host, Dana used her platform to tackle difficult conversations with refreshing candor while connecting with her audience on a human level. She also used the show as a platform to support and promote small businesses, and women and minority led businesses with regular segments and was also a regular guest on HLN discussing sexual harassment and other challenges for women in the workplace.
In The Community
Active in the community, Dana serves on the board of Inspiredu, a non-profit that works to bridge the digital divide, and several years after surviving breast cancer in 2013, she became the official spokesperson for TurningPoint Breast Cancer Rehabilitation.
She has also given her time to emcee and moderate events for the Jewish Book Festival, TEDx Peachtree, and Partners Against Domestic Violence to name a few. She created a networking event series for women, and founded and runs a public book club that has been active for over a decade.
Personal & Family
Originally from the suburbs of Philadelphia, Dana attended Cornell University and graduated with a degree in Hospitality Administration before moving to the metro Atlanta area in the late 1980s.
An empty-nester since 2010, Dana raised her daughter Lauren as a divorced, working single mom and says that is the accomplishment she is most proud of.
Oh, and she’s kind of a sci-fi nerd.