People Pleasing, Franchising, and Pinewood Derbies | Danessa Itaya

Show Notes

In this episode of The Girl Dad Show, Young Han sits down with Danessa Itaya, president of Maid Brigade and a franchise leader with more than three decades in the industry, to unpack the climb from accounting clerk to brand president, leading a team you rarely see in person, and what it took to stop needing everyone to agree with her. Danessa learned franchising from the ground up and now serves as Vice Chair of the International Franchise Association's Women's Franchise Committee. She's candid about the hardest thing she's had to overcome — a people-pleasing instinct that made her good at relationships and slow to speak up — and about the difference between caring how a decision lands and needing approval for it.

The conversation also gets personal. As one of ten children, eight of them adopted into her family, Danessa brings an unusually direct perspective on belonging and on how much of a parent's influence actually lands. She talks about going back to work four weeks after having a baby, traveling to franchisees with a breast pump, the Pinewood Derby races she missed — and the answer her sons gave when she finally asked whether they had noticed. Expect a case for setting goals bigger than feel comfortable, a definition of balance as seasonal rather than fixed, and a leadership philosophy built on listening hard and then deciding anyway.

🔗 CONNECT WITH DANESSA ITAYA

👥 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danessa-itaya-cfe-87397615/

👍 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/danessa.itaya/

🔗 CONNECT WITH YOUNG HAN

👥 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/younghan/

🐦 X: https://twitter.com/younghan

💻 Website: https://www.alwayshan.com/

🔗 CONNECT WITH THE GIRL DAD SHOW

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