Meet the Team: Boston Designer Dana Bradshaw

Get to know your local Stoneside Boston team

At Stoneside, our team is our family. In the last couple of months, we’ve been catching up with our family all across the country to highlight our team members and share their stories.

Just recently, we decided to go from Portland all the way to Boston, a thriving city full of unique homes and timeless intrigue.

There, we met with one of Stoneside’s Boston designers, Dana.

Dana, always on the move, spoke with our marketing team from the front seat of her vehicle. Most days, this is where you can find her, exploring Boston homes all over the city and surrounding areas. (Spoiler alert: this is one of her favorite parts of the job!)

I love that I'm getting all this intimate, personal exposure to all these little backroads and nooks and crannies — penthouse views here, and downtown offices there.

It's super fun.

And I would never, ever, ever know my way around the city like I am learning how to do without being in a job like this.

How did you come to be in Boston?

Dana:

I'm from Alabama originally. And when I graduated from school, I moved to DC. I lived in DC for about 10 years, and that's where I met my husband. Once we got married, we like to say we flipped a coin. We were either going north or south.

He won the coin toss — I bought a bunch of coats.

My husband's from Newburyport, so we went back to sort of his hometown and where his family is. So we ended up there. We've been here about 18 years.

Wow, what a whirlwind! You’ve had quite the experience. How did Stoneside come into the picture?

Dana:

I was in the DC area when I got out of college, and while there I worked for J Crew. Then I ended up working for Calvin Klein for about 10 years. That was super fun — I did everything from visual merchandising and stores to special accounts, sales, and all that.

Then I sort of got into the home niche — I was an independent rep for the home accessory and giftware industry line. So I did that for a long time.

When I moved up to New England, there wasn't exactly the same crossover market that I had in DC. We were also having my oldest son Caleb about that time.

I ended up staying home with my kids for about five or six years, which was super special and I’m so happy I had the ability to do that. It was very important to me.

After they got a little older, it was time for me to go back to work. I didn't exactly know where to begin. So I just was going on sort of random interviews, and I ended up going to interview with a company that sold medical products and, I'm not sure why to this day, but they offered me the job.

No medical background whatsoever, but I ended up working there for like eight or nine years. And it was a great job. But I absolutely had zero personal interest in it — it wasn't a “me” job.

Three years ago, I started looking kind of seriously for a new job and I just wasn't seeing a lot out there. Nothing grabbed me until I read the job description for Stoneside. I read it and I sent my generic cover letter resume off. There was an actual recruiter within the company — you can see who it is — her name was Elaine.

Then, 15 minutes later, I emailed Elaine again, this time a three-page letter.

I knew I wanted the job. And I was like, ‘I'm not gonna let this go.’

It was very personal, not a professional letter to a recruiter. I just laid it all out: This is who I am. This is what I've done. I don't have any window experience whatsoever. But I do have this, this, and that, and I think honestly, within 30 minutes, she picked up the phone and called me and I was like ‘oh my goodness.’

I was so happy.

Good for you. We love that — you clearly knew what you wanted. Was it an easy transition?

Dana:

Ironically right about that time was when COVID came along. My initial introduction for Stoneside for months was just Elaine (the recruiter) because COVID came along.

Normally I think they fly interviewees out to Denver to interview and that all got put on a quick halt. I think I had a phone interview or a zoom interview with Dave and Mickey, but there was no urgency for hiring in this market because of COVID.

We all sat on it for about nine months, but I kept checking in.

The long and short of the story is I think I ended up having five or six zoom interviews with David and Mickey, and they ended up offering me the job during COVID.

It was kind of an odd time. I went to Denver by myself for training and I was the only one in the office. Very weird. But it was also super nice because I got to meet everybody, just one on one.

Then I came back to Boston and had a couple of calls, but a lot of it was Zoom, to begin with. But the band-aid came off. I got out in the field immediately and just hit the ground running.

That’s such a unique experience. What about the job at Stoneside specifically made you so sure? Why did you know this was something you wanted?

Dana:

I think just the idea of getting out and being in this world — home, real estate, fashion. Those are things that I’ve always loved.

I grew up in a house that my dad restored from the ground up.

I’ve always been around tools and windows and all that. My mom used fabrics my whole life; I think we've had the same couch my whole entire life, she's just recovered it 17 times. People just don’t do things like that anymore. But that was certainly part of my mom's lifestyle, and I’ve always been around that world.

I just got the big picture. And it let me get into that world a little bit.

I love to help people and I've never been really good at the hard sale. That's not what my strength is. I’m not going to sell something that somebody doesn't want. And I loved that about Stoneside’s ethos, too. We’re in alignment there for sure.

Part of the beauty of Stoneside is that they come to us, they initiate that call with Stoneside.

Our clients know that they want something — it's up to us to deliver that need.

That was one of the most attractive things to me — you have a customer that wants something, and you have a company that has all these wonderful qualities. It's a win-win for everyone because you're helping someone that needs something.

That was one of the things that really attracted me to Stoneside — the ability to answer someone's needs and to help them.

We love that! We feel the exact same way.

Okay, so tell us about working in Boston. There are houses that are hundreds of years old and then there are these new modern office buildings. Tell us about that and the challenges it presents.

Dana:

Every day it's like a box of chocolates.

I have no idea what I'm getting. Every night I tell my husband “Okay, I'm going here and here and here.” I'm learning the city, but that’s one of the fun things about the job.

It's not typical. It's not repetitive every single day.

Every day is really different. And our inside team does a really good job of keeping me in the same nooks and crannies within the city because our territory here is pretty big. They do a great job of keeping me in a general area so I don't have to travel too far between appointments.

The snow and parking are always a challenge!

But it's a box of chocolates every single day — I never know what I'm gonna pull up to.

Is it a four-story brownstone? This morning, I went up four flights of rounded stairs to the penthouse. There was no elevator, and I’ve got all my books and samples and stuff going up there. But you get up there and you're like, holy cow, this is amazing up here.

You just never know.

Oh my goodness, amazing. That’s one of the reasons we love Boston.

Dana:

Absolutely.

Boston is full of young people just moving from one part of the city to the other, that they're all just like rotating, going from Beacon Hill to the Seaport or South Boston. Or moving into Brookline because they need something bigger, or moving from the suburbs back into the city because they're empty nesters.

I feel like 90% of my clients are currently in the city — they're just moving.

And the real estate here is just on fire. I'd say, 90% of my business is new construction. All these old brownstones, townhouses, and row houses are getting redone one hundred percent. And all these people just flock to them from different parts of the city.

That sounds so vibrant. I can see why you like being out in it. Are there treatments that tend to be more popular in the area in particular?

Dana:

In the city, clients tend to want a lot of motorized roller shades.

A lot of my clients are super young, so motorization and technology are super important — it's not want, they need it.

When I get out to the suburbs like Concord and Andover, I see a lot more traditional things like Roman shades, draperies — things like that. But it all depends on what they want.

What about any projects that stand out to you?

Dana:

This might be my most exciting one, and one I wanted the most — it’s a new music venue that's attached to Fenway.

It's a small venue. I think their first musical guests are Bruno Mars and Chris Stapleton. I think those were the two that said we're coming in September and October.

It's a real intimate space, and we did the shades for the ticket windows. And then we also did the shades for the green rooms for all the artists that come up that need privacy, because they're literally looking right out at Fenway.

That was super fun. I was super excited about that.

Wow, that’s amazing! That’s like a dream client for sure. What an awesome opportunity. Is there anything else about Stoneside that you love?

Dana:

Our installers are key. I tell every client this: Our five-star service starts in our office in Denver, and our installers finish it up because it really is a team effort.

I can't do what I do without our inside team, and I can't finish the job without our installers. So we’re all key components. And there's nobody that's “more important.” We just all have different roles.

It's super great that Stoneside has installers as employees because especially in our Denver and Boston market, I sell to a lot of these high-rise units that need the certification, they need the insurance, and they need all that documentation.

It's so easy to be like, “Yep, we checked that box. I've got it right here. I can send it over to you in no time.” Because that's part of their criteria.

We all depend on each other. We can't check that customer satisfaction box for our clients until we all do our job.

We always hear about (and feel) that team mentality for Stoneside. It’s consistently brought up, and it’s definitely a favorite across the board.

Dana:

Yeah, it is. I was one of the first designers that they hired as part of growing the team. And we've grown a lot since I've been there and it’s all for the better for everyone. We have more people to depend on and rely on.

It’s just good. It's a good vibe.

Let’s switch things up just a bit — what’s life like outside the office? We know you’ve got a couple of kids and live in Newburyport. And your oldest is 16?

Dana:

Yes, he's 16, about to be 17. And then my daughter just turned 15 today.

Oh wow! Happy birthday to her — how fun!

Dana:

Yeah, she's actually in Alabama right now with my sister. She goes down there every year right after school. So I have a 15 and 16-year-old, soon to be 17 so when I am not doing Stoneside I am with Caleb and Harper. It keeps me very, very busy.

I bet! What a trip. Do you have any favorite parts of the city? Or of your hometown?

Dana:

I love the Brookline area. It's so cool and so full of energy and students and just everybody. But it still feels kind of like a small town. I love that the T goes through there. I’ve always really liked Brookline.

My favorite thing about Newburyport is it’s on the water. Whenever you need to clear your head, you can just go get a big, fresh breath of sea air and you're rejuvenated.

So — what kind of chocolate are you?

If all of Dana’s days are like a box of chocolates, she’s sure to be excited about meeting you on one of them. Are you ready to meet Dana or another member of our team?

Let’s chat about your home’s needs, and see if we can help you find the perfect solution for your Boston area home.