A Star is Born (July 2022, updated)

I wrote some of this piece going on three years ago. For 12 years, Denise had been a force of nature, extending our community far beyond our four walls. I’ve edited the article to expand on an inspiring progress report.

Courtesy of her sister, Team Leader Dani, Denise was part of our extended Temple City Dental Care family years before she joined us full-time.

Denise, who had been Dani's very first trainer, had loads of enthusiasm, the will to do the right thing, and years of experience of working in pediatric dentistry. Don't know about you guys, but I'm always impressed by folks who can deal with little kids all day long under any circumstances…but in a dental chair?

By the time Denise was ready for a change in scenery, Dani had been with us for over eight years; Denise had trained an award-winning dental assistant and our new Team Leader. And it wasn’t like I was looking for a position to fill; I was looking and listening for someone who could make a difference. And this time I got lucky.

We really didn't have a dental assistant availability and Denise hadn't had administrative experience. But I would never witness Denise speaking on the phone without a smile. And I had always seen our former extended family member engage people like every one of 'em was Best Friends Forever. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Treatment Coordinator Denise!

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We're really committed to constantly training and learning. I soon discovered Denise, like me, was a training/continuing education nerd; and she read every self-improvement book she could get her hands on. And I thought we were the “cool kids.”

Denise soon mastered the phone skills just like I knew she would. And Denise soaked up training like a sponge. I had been doing the Chamber of Commerce breakfast tour for years and it was fun eating, conversing, and promoting USC Trojan Football domination a couple of times a month. It's just that when we made the transition to Denise, we suddenly experienced a dramatic upturn in marketing effectiveness.

Denise established business relationships with a smile and the ease of Sinatra singing "New York New York." Denise set up a speaking circuit where Pasadena Chamber members could meet, present, and inform other professionals and their customers, clients, and patients. And even more impressively, Denise started her own coaching business; organizing her take on the training she'd experienced and then personalizing it to the benefit of other small businesses. Hence, Next Level to Success became reality.

Later, at a Pasadena Chamber Lunch, a speaker sharing a 25-second "commercial" moved Denise to tears. At the time, Denise was also steering our November marketing campaign; in the middle of the campaign, we entertained a visitor. We had lunch with Nancy Davidson, Executive Director of The Foundation for Living Beauty; and we were never quite the same.

At the time, Living Beauty served more than 450 women who were in various aspects of their "journey" with cancer (today, Living Beauty serves almost 1,000 women.) Nancy and a three-woman team organized and provided events, support groups, and resources; after about 5-minutes with Nancy, we knew we wanted to be one of the resources.

Within a few days, we adopted five families facing the hardship of cancer, low income, and the reality of a non-existent Holiday. And with Denise on point, the gift lists were filled almost overnight…not to mention additional clothing and even Christmas Trees. To this day, six years later, Living Beauty remains our Smiles for Life Partner in a “doing good” community project that began with Dentistry’s Crown Council 24-years ago.

In 2018, when we expanded our Temple City Dental Care space, Denise organized a Chamber of Commerce attendance competition. The festivities included entertainment, refreshments, and recognition of patients who’d been active since the 1970s. Our patient parking lot of some 100 feet in depth was packed all the way to Las Tunas Dr. I’m going to miss Denise’s energy.

And, as of June 2022, Denise is still Family, but on an extended leave of absence. And I know our talented Admins Matt and Claudia will miss Denise’s leadership and guidance; Denise trained both. Denise promised she’d stay on as long as I was around. I sold Temple City Dental Care in May 2022.

And if soaking up knowledge and connecting with people on “Hello” and training them up isn’t enough, Denise is also gifted beyond belief as an engaging, authentic from-the-heart speaker. Denise was pretty much recruited out of the Speaking Consultant Network like an NFL first round draft choice for consulting by the American Dental Association.

And I don’t know about y’all, but for me, the melancholy over not seeing Denise work her magic every day in the office is softened some by being witness to her amazing growth, sense of fearlessness, and recognition she’s achieved and so rightly deserves.

It’s not every day you get to be around to see it when a star is born.

An update: Today Denise is coaching dental practices and changing lives across the United States; she is an official Align Technology speaker, member and prize-winning speaker of the esteemed Speaking Consultant Network, and in the process of sharing her coaching gift with a variety of businesses and organizations outside of Dentistry. And even better (for me), Denise has twice presented to the American Academy of Clear Aligners (AACA) Pasadena Study Club*I chair.

*The leading Invisalign providing group in North America