Dana Dudley: A Staple of the CNU Community
Meet the front-of-house manager of Regattas
It started with a cold register. Dana Dudley, the front-of-house manager of Regattas, started working at CNU four years ago. He was originally assigned register one because he didn’t mind the cold, but Dudley ended up embracing the role and forming a close bond with students.
Reflecting on how it all began, Dudley said that he never expected to become such a well-known, beloved member of the CNU community.
“I think it started with a student walking through the door and they had a look on their face that was just like, ‘oh my gosh, this is just a horrible day.’” He continued, “From there it just opened up and now I’m Dana.”
Today, you’d recognize Dudley as the one who welcomes students into the dining hall, putting a smile on the face of every person who walks through the door. He’s the one who always compliments your shoes or asks how your day has been.
Dudley described what it feels like being so well-known on campus, “As much as I’m an extrovert, I’m still shy and sometimes it’s humbling and I get emotional, so if I have some students in there like, ‘Mr. Dana you made my day,’ I will cry, oh yeah. And I’m not afraid to admit it, I do get emotional. I cry because I love the students here, I really do. They really keep me motivated and keep me going.”
But who is Dana Dudley? Most students aren’t familiar with him outside of his work at CNU. So one afternoon, I sat down with Dudley to find out more about him.
Dudley, 48, was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. His father was in the Air Force, so he sometimes traveled the country with his dad when he was on temporary duty travel.
Growing up, he was very active, “I had a lot of energy as a child and so my parents were like, ‘I can’t deal with this’ so they immediately put me in martial arts. Then I also, to fill in that time during the summer, took ballet, tap and jazz.”
As an adult, Dudley still has boundless amounts of energy and a variety of interests. Before the pandemic, he dabbled in stand-up comedy and now he’s learning to do voice-overs and writing his own murder mystery book. He still has a passion for dance, particularly hip hop, and he also works out daily, shadow boxing and doing heavy bag work.
He even says that sparring with a professional is on his bucket-list, “I want to spar a professional fighter, like a real name that I know, that I’ve seen. I would love that, I would absolutely love that just to test myself.”
In 1990, at 16 years old, Dudley’s dad was relocated and the family moved to Virginia. Dudley joined the Navy Reserve as an electronic warfare technician in 1992. Afterwards, he attended Thomas Nelson Community College, transferred to Hampton University to run track, but transferred again to Old Dominion to major in biology. As someone who’s been drawing all his life, Dudley switched his major to art and started doing photography. During this time, Dudley also did back up dancing for rappers and R&B singers, even auditioning for the girl group, TLC. However, he stopped pursuing his dance career in order to focus on his studies.
In 2019, before the pandemic hit, Dudley juggled 3 jobs: hotel manager, Regattas, and personal trainer.
Personal training seemed especially important to Dudley who said that one of his biggest accomplishments was helping a client lose 100lb, “That was my biggest accomplishment in the fact that she’s still moving forward and is still getting better and better, healthier every day. And that was important to me, to not just lose the weight, but to do it healthy and be a better person after all that.”
Although he gave up personal training because of the pandemic, Dudley still finds ways to lift people up. In his job at Regattas, Dudley manages the temps and the hourly workers.
He also helps stock, do orders, clean, and put up decorations, but he said, “My biggest job, to me, is to take care of the students. That is the biggest thing. And making them laugh and smile, that’s just a perk of the job.”
Dudley also said that the students help him stay positive, in fact, they’re his favorite part of the job, “I can have the worst day, the worst day ever, and come here, and within a few minutes of talking to just a couple of students, just the light in their eyes and everything, it just lifts whatever issues I have and just puts them away and then I’m able to go about my day. You guys are critical to me because I really appreciate you guys. As much as all the students say I do for them, you guys do just as much for me.”
Dudley listed the students, coworkers, and, of course, his children as the people who lift up and inspire him. He has three children who he considers his greatest accomplishments, a 20 year-old son and two daughters, 14 and 18 years old.
Near the end of the interview, I asked Dudley to share one thing that he wishes the students knew about him, “That I’m sincere. That anything I say, if I say you got a nice fit on, your hair looks nice, your shoes, it’s all sincere. If I don’t believe it, I don’t say it.”
Dudley’s official job title may be front-of-house manager, but, for the CNU community, he’s much more. He goes above and beyond to acknowledge and support the students. Dudley is a staple of the CNU community and Regattas wouldn’t be the same without him.
Nice piece on a community hero!