How well do you know Dana Hentschel? For the last six years, Dana has served as the firm’s outreach coordinator, and she is highly visible in the local community. In this Team Tidbit, our focus is on a few fun facts you probably didn’t know about Dana.
Fact 1: Dana loves food.
She has an Instagram account called @agirlobsessedwithfood that documents the places she has eaten and meals she has prepared. “I love how the growth of Nashville has been a magnet for restauranteurs,” she said. “My husband, Jeff, and I have a list of the restaurants we want to try. It’s a long list! It’s quite a contrast to just a few decades ago when the only places to eat downtown were Demos Restaurant and the Old Spaghetti Factory on 2nd Ave.” Today, Dana’s favorite restaurants in Hendersonville include Rosie’s Food & Wine and Café Rakka.
Fact 2: Dana loves working with seniors.
Raised by her great-grandparents, Dana has always had an affinity for older adults. “I’m just more comfortable around seniors,” she said. “I’ve always gravitated to jobs that involve working with the senior community. It’s one of the things I love most about working with Takacs McGinnis.”
Fact 3: Dana is an animal lover.
Raised in a home on the then-undeveloped Walton Ferry peninsula, Dana grew up surrounded by a menagerie of pets. “I was like the farm girl that lived in the city,” she laughed. “We got ducks for Easter, chickens for Easter, and bunny rabbits for Easter. At one time, I think I had 16 cats.” Today, Dana is a dog mom to Izzy, a White Maltipoo; Piper, a Labradoodle; and Bosley, a Bernadoodle rescue.
Fact 4: Dana’s grandparents are famous songwriters.
Dana’s paternal grandparents, Boudleaux and Felice Bryant, are successful songwriters whose partnership resulted in a catalog of more than 1,600 songs and a Country Music Hall of Fame Exhibit in 2019. Rocky Top, Bye Bye Love, Love Hurts, and Wake Up Little Suzie are just a few of the hits they wrote together. “My grandparents moved to Hendersonville in the 1950s,” Dana said. “They were the first songwriters to come here and make a living writing songs. They were friends with all the famous musicians in the area, including Johnny Cash and Roy Orbison.”
Boudleaux and Felice lived in a home on Old Hickory Lake in Hendersonville for years before moving to Gatlinburg. Dana's dad was a witness to the creation of Old Hickory Lake. "One of his boyhood memories involves watching the water rise on the Cumberland River after the Old Hickory Dam was built."
Fact 5: Dana loves Nashville’s growth more than she hates it.
Like many people who have spent their lives in Middle Tennessee, Dana has mixed feelings about the region’s growth. “When I got married in 2002, there was no salon to get your hair done,” she remembered. “I had to go to Rivergate. There were no amenities in Hendersonville until relatively recently, so I love it that I no longer have to leave town to find a good restaurant, or get my hair or nails done.”
While that growth has made it easier to access services, Dana admits that the convenience has come with a price. “We’re losing a lot of our open space, and we don’t seem to appreciate the history of Hendersonville. Towns like Franklin have preserved and showcased their history in a way that Hendersonville hasn’t. Though I find that kind of sad, I’m excited about all the opportunities created by the area’s growth. I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.”