Episode 060
Dana Frank
Our family didn’t just break barriers, they shattered them.” Dana Frank was raised by “Fire Starters”—individuals who change their narrative regardless of birth circumstances. Today, she joins Alice Tang to discuss her book, “Get Up and Get On It,” and the grit required to maintain a family business through recessions, systemic racism, and personal trials.
Key Takeaways:
• Why “equity grows and cash erodes.”
• The power of “Amplify Injustice” in business and community.
• Strategic Philanthropy: Why you can’t receive with a clenched fist.
• Dana’s advice for women: “Don’t just accept NO”
"I was raised by what I call fire starters. Those are individuals that know they can change the narrative despite what their birth circumstances may have dictated."
Dana Frank: Our story started in 1950. My father came from Detroit and as a young black man, his options were limited and, it was time of segregation and Jim Crow laws, and my father looked at his options. Daddy looked at his friends getting up and getting on the assembly line and working from 2, 3, 4 in the morning. Putting in a double shift, coming home, exhausted with not enough of a paycheck to put a decent meal on the table. So my father came to Seattle and he literally had a green book, the Negro Travelers Guide was what brought him. To Seattle to tell him where he could sleep safely at night. And when he got here, he got busy and he invested in his first piece of real estate at 18, bought a home on contract.
Alice Tang: Good morning everyone. I’m Alice Tang in Portland, Oregon, the host of Women’s Million Dollar Conversation. I am here sitting down with a new good friend of mine… Dana Frank.
Dana Frank: My name again is Dana Frank and I reside in Seattle, Washington. I run a now third generation family apartment rental business. Started by my parents over years ago, and I’m most proud because they say only 12% of family businesses make it to the third generation. And now my 31-year-old son and my 24-year-old daughter are continuing the legacy, started by their grandparents.
Alice Tang: Tell us a little bit about the journey to that first million and what are some of the hurdles or challenges that you faced.
Dana Frank: My story is really unusual and it’s really difficult to differentiate the legacy that I was born into. So I was raised by what I call fire starters. And those are individuals that know they can change the narrative despite what their birth circumstances may have dictated. So when you ask, when I made my first million, it’s really hard because from the, from the time I was born, I’ve worked in the family business.
Dana Frank: I remember the first deal I really did on my own, a great investment. I purchased a vacation home in Scottsdale, Arizona, and I bought it for 230,000 and now it’s worth a couple million dollars, and that was one of my first projects that I you know, I, I’ve really done this on my own and, I’ve raised with equity grows, cash erodes, you know, so invest, so real estate has always been that vehicle for my family.
Dana Frank: I was raised, and this is what I teach now as an acronym I call REAL:
R is Do your research.
E is expand your network. My network is my net worth.
A is amplify injustice.
L is leverage.
Dana Frank: The amazing fact with my parents was that from 1950 when my father made that first investment until 1969, my parents purchased an apartment building every year for 19 years without any bank funding because of redlining. So they had to use creative funding. They had to use creative financing to make these deals happen. And so I had a front row seat to watching the struggle, to watching you know, how to negotiate to amplify the injustice. We didn’t have TikTok or Facebook… we had picket signs and, you know, we had to fight for it.
Dana Frank: When my parents went through a divorce after 32 years… the court appointed a receiver and the receiver came in and they rented to any able-bodied person that was able to come up with the first month rent. And so when my mother and I walked outta that courtroom as two single women, no longer under the veil of protection from my father , we were near bankrupt. The properties were in complete disarray. Roofs were leaking, rodents ran rampant… and there were gangs, and you name it, in terms of a poor tenant profile.
Dana Frank: Bank after bank, after bank told us to sell. But we knew if we sold, we would never be able to recreate the struggle that my parents had built all those years. So we demanded to have lunch with the bank president. When we sat down and looked to him face to face and explained our history, explained the struggle, he granted us a moratorium where we went one year without making a mortgage payment on any of the properties. And we were able to infuse the cash back into the business, and that’s how we were able to rebuild.
Dana Frank: Our mission statement is that we provide affordable, quality housing. And I think that’s really the secret sauce to our success. We’re not super high-end rentals… but our happiest day is when individuals come and say, Hey, I’m moving on to buy my own house. Each property that we turn over, we say to ourself, I could sleep here at night. And that’s really been the joy of what we do.
Dana Frank: I really believe, and I teach my children, that you can’t receive with a clenched fist, and that’s why charitable work is so important. I raised my kids going down to Union Gospel Mission. I mean, we spent many nights on the streets doing search and rescue. There’s always opportunities to get involved and make someone else’s life better. You know, how do you that that old saying of, I don’t look down on someone unless I’m lifting them up.
Dana Frank: How do we continue to change the narrative? Most famously, it was my uncle, the late Quincy Jones, you know, the music producer. My uncle said, you know, there’s not one ounce of my self worth that is dependent on your acceptance of me. And so when we get to that point, when we really can embrace that, then we find out how we can live our lives to the fullest.
Dana Frank: Success only comes before work in the dictionary. And I just think that people have to know you got to do the work, you got to get up and… get up and get on it.
Alice Tang: Get on it just like Mother Frank.
Dana Frank: Right, right.
Alice Tang: On behalf of the Women’s million dollar Conversation. We are so grateful for you.
Dana Frank: Alice. It’s been a pleasure.
Dana grew up in her family run real estate investment firm in Seattle, Frank Enterprises. Twenty-five years ago, she became the General Managing Partner of the company—now named The TD Frank Family Properties—and she continued to expand their investments with prime real estate properties in Washington state and Arizona.
Dana has been honored with her properties being featured as the Seattle Times Home of the Week and recognized for her work to assist low-income families in finding housing. In March 2016, Dana and her mother/partner Theresa Frank were featured on the cover of the Seattle Times in a story titled “Persistence Pays” which shared their journey as long-term landlords in the transitional Central District.
Dana engages in numerous local philanthropic endeavors including an annual gift drive for Treehouse for Foster Kids at the holidays, now in its 15th year. She has Co-Chaired Bellevue LifeSpring, Woodland Park Zoo, Treehouse’s 25th Soiree Gala, and served on MoPOP’s Founder’s Award Committee.