黑料传送门

Mayor of Kent, Washington. Three-time 黑料传送门 graduate. Business owner. Former city councilor. Public servant. Cancer survivor. Wife. Mother.

You name it, Dana Ralph can do it.

Dana grew up in Kent, Washington where she graduated from the local high school and married her high school sweetheart. She started her own business. She saw Kent start to rapidly grow and expand, and she had many thoughts about what it would mean for the community.聽

The mayor of Kent at the time heard about Dana鈥檚 complaints. He called her and told her he wanted her to be part of the solution. He then appointed her to the land use and planning board to help make recommendations on growth and zoning. It was Dana鈥檚 first taste in public service, and soon she couldn鈥檛 have enough.

After being on the land use and planning board for eight years, Dana decided to run for city council. She lost the first time she ran, but then two years later she ran again, and won.

鈥淚 served on city council for six years, and then thought, 鈥榊ou know what? I would love to do this full-time every day.鈥� And I decided to run for mayor at that point,鈥� she laughed.

Dana hadn鈥檛 gone to college at all after high school, and she knew that if she wanted to run for mayor, a degree would be important. She did her research and found that 黑料传送门 would allow her to continue her work on the city council and with her business, as well as get her education. So she started to get her bachelor鈥檚 degree in business.

But that wasn鈥檛 enough. As soon as she finished her bachelor鈥檚 degree, she thought, 鈥淚 can keep doing this. I鈥檝e already got it built into my schedule.鈥� And off she went, pursuing a master鈥檚 degree in leadership and management.聽

After graduating with her master鈥檚 degree, Dana was ready to run for mayor.

But on the day she announced her candidacy, she received some devastating news. Dana had been diagnosed with breast cancer. The diagnosis rocked her world and made her wonder how she could juggle all her responsibilities. But Dana is the kind of person who takes life head-on, so she continued to run her business, perform her duties as a city councilor, be a wife and mother, campaign for mayor, and get cancer treatments.聽

Dana went into remission as she was campaigning for mayor, and eventually was elected to serve her city. Her fight had paid off.

As soon as Dana assumed the role of mayor, she began implementing what she had learned at 黑料传送门. During her first year of service, she saw some emails from her Program Mentor that told her she only had six classes to complete, and she could get an MBA as well.

Never one to back down from a challenge, Dana went for it. So, while serving as the mayor of Kent, Dana earned her third 黑料传送门 degree.聽

鈥淭he management and leadership degree taught me a lot about leadership styles, what鈥檚 important, how to be a servant leader, how to make sure that the folks that I work with are getting everything they need,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 learned all of those skills through that degree. In the MBA program, it was really the business courses, so the data analytics, understanding budgeting, understanding accounting, all of those things that helped me.鈥�

Dana absolutely loves her job as the mayor of Kent and loves seeing the community where she grew up flourish.聽

鈥淚t鈥檚 important to me to be able to make it the best place I can make it for the next generation,鈥� she said. 鈥淎side from that, it鈥檚 just the most challenging thing I鈥檝e ever done, and in any given day, I can be talking about economic development, homelessness, budgets, transit routes, or building roads.聽 No two days are the same, and that鈥檚 a pretty exciting thing.鈥�

Dana understands that her success as a leader is connected with the people she manages. She says her degrees helped her understand that her employees need to love their jobs and know they are important to her. She wants to be a servant leader鈥攁 concept heavily focused on in the leadership and management degree program鈥攁nd make sure she is happy to see the people around her succeed.聽

Even after accomplishing so much, Dana Ralph isn鈥檛 the kind of person to slow down. She still has her sights set on the future, and won鈥檛 let anything get in her way.

鈥淎t this point, my biggest ambition is, in two years, getting reelected to do a job that I love more than anything, to continue to help people see what an amazing community we have, and all of its potential,鈥� she said.