The Power To Persevere: A Journey of Legacy and Control

Dana Frank is General Managing Partner of TD Frank Family Properties, an author and philanthropist based in Seattle.

By Dana Frank

It's 1989, and I'm 25 years old. On my way to the courthouse, I'm listening to Janet Jackson's hit song, "Control." The irony isn’t lost on me—today is all about control. It's a typical rainy day in the Pacific Northwest, and like most Seattleites, I don’t carry an umbrella. I arrive disheveled.  

I sit next to my mother and see the back of my father’s head. When Daddy turns, our eyes meet. He looks so handsome and through his pearly white teeth, he shouts, “You just can’t keep that knife out of my back.”

I squeeze my mama’s hand. She squeezes mine harder. “Don’t let him bite,” she says.

“Are you serious?” I lean in. “Mama, he’s got one foot on a banana peel and the other in the grave. He built this business and he’ll take it to his grave before he lets us have it.”

Dana Frank (L) receiving the International Impact Award.

“He didn’t build it by himself,” Mama replies.

I want to shout back, “No, Daddy, you brought this on yourself. Being a vigilante landlord, taking the laws into your own hands—like when you removed the front door of a delinquent tenant's apartment and told him, ‘Your rent is missing too.’ You are always putting our lives and business at risk.”

That day, I stood up to my father, turned my fear into fuel taking control and changing my future. My mother and I partnered to rescue our family apartment rental business from near bankruptcy after a court-appointed receiver left the properties in disrepair. 

Dana Frank’s book, Get Up and Get On It: A Black Entrepreneur’s Lessons on Creating Legacy & Wealth, launches Juneteenth 2024.

Daddy and I reconciled and today, I am a proud steward of a third-generation family-owned apartment rental business, defying the odds that say only 12 percent of family businesses survive to the third generation. My upcoming book, emphasizes the first step every day—Get Up and Get On It!

Dana Frank is General Managing Partner of TD Frank Family Properties, an author and philanthropist based in Seattle and she has won the International Impact Award and Pinnacle Award for her latest book. https://www.facebook.com/dana.frank.121/ ; https://www.instagram.com/therealdanafrank?igsh=YXljcnV5aTFxMTk4&utm_source=qr ; https://www.linkedin.com/in/dana-frank-ba13895?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app ; https://www.therealdanafrank.com/