All About Dana

With a passion for connecting through humour and words, Dana uses her 20 years experience in Tour Guiding, training and comedy to educate, motivate and entertain.

Years of guiding Contiki tour groups in Europe refined her people skills and forced her into a leadership role way beyond her years. Crossing into the wrong Socialist borders, leaving passengers behind in Venice and celebrating Bastille Night in a Parisian Police station with 51 drunken passengers were hilarious highlights.

Certainly busloads of unsuspecting passengers were great practice for Dana's witty one liners and provided an endless supply of comic material. Escorting elderly American cruise ship passengers around Australia tested her patience and elevated her tolerance. With that sort of customer service apprenticeship, Dana can now be nice to just about anyone - for up to 11 days.

Dana was shocked when she left uni with her BA/Dip Ed, to discover that there were very few opportunities for graduates of 18th century poetry, so she obtained qualifications in adult education. Passing on all the wisdom she had gained ‘on the road', Dana trained about 500 tour guides for Contiki Holidays , EF Educational Tours and TAFE NSW. She taught the Tourism Diploma at Macleay College and became terribly serious and responsible as the Operations Manager of Contiki Holidays Australia.

 But you can't take the funny out of the girl and Dana never let go of the comedy reins, by performing at most Sydney venues, including The Harold Park Hotel, The Comedy Store and Comedy on the Rox. She is one of the comedians of the ‘Wicked Women' troupe and has appeared on the Comedy Channel. Dana is currently writing humourous presentations for herself and others, facilitating humour and presentation workshops for speakers and delivering super funny, motivational keynotes  (very Grown Up).

 But a big chunk of Dana's life hasn't been very funny. Losing her 23 year old sister to breast cancer, supporting her mother through 6 primary cancers until her death in 2003 and going through her own breast cancer in her mid 30's, were challenges that tested her funny bone. Dana speaks with genuine empathy and even humour at Cancer related functions. She has been guest speaker, panellist and MC at many events, fundraisers, forums and launches with The Cancer Council, Girls Night In and The Garvan Institute.

Dana is one of 27 contestants chosen from an Australia wide audition process to compete for the title of Australia's Best Public Speaker on ABC1 TV show 'Strictly Speaking'. She wins her heat and becomes one of the 9 semi finalists. In fact the only female finalsit, so you could say she is THE LAST WOMAN STANDING.

Dana is committed to raising the standard of public speaking and is well respected as a debating and speaking coach and qualified adjudicator with the Department of Education.

She is happily married to the only deodorant wearing Frenchman on the planet and has a gorgeous 15 year old daughter.