Dana Keller came to Mexico in 1985. That she remained is somewhat surprising – she has lived in six states and went to three high schools. Keller serves as executive director of the Mexico Area …
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Dana Keller came to Mexico in 1985. That she remained is somewhat surprising – she has lived in six states and went to three high schools. Keller serves as executive director of the Mexico Area Chamber of Commerce, a post she has held since 2009. Before that, she was head of the Audrain County Historical Museum. She has worked on a lot of important projects in the city, but counts being named an honorary graduate of Mexico High School in 2013 as one of her proudest moments. “Now I say I’m from here.” she said.
1. Why did you move around so much?
My dad built cooling towers for power plants. We moved every two years.
2. How does it feel to be settled?
You know, it took a little while, but once I married and had children, I couldn’t be more happy to be in one place.
3. What makes a Chamber of Commerce so important?
They are important for all kinds of reasons. The part of my job I pride myself on is helping to set a community’s culture. And we are the heart of the business community.
4. Is executive director a desk job?
I have to schedule time to be behind the desk. There’s so much going on. And I like to be out in the community.
5. How did the pandemic affect your work?
Right at the beginning we sat down and said we don’t want to get to the end of this and find there was something we didn’t try. We encouraged people and kept them informed.
6. Mexico held up well.
We did do well. Our sales tax rate was level or above the majority of the time.
7. Businesses look good.
We tried to do a lot of things to encourage people to support the local economy. If there’s one good thing that came out of COVID, the whole community developed a greater love of supporting local business. It was amazing.
8. And now there are new restaurants coming to town.
I’m excited. We had a lot of years with no restaurants. Now we have so many wonderful restaurants.
9. Where do Chambers find big scissors?
[Laughs] I inherited these scissors. My first day an older gentleman walked in and said ‘do not point the scissors toward the ground and walk around. They’ll break and I’ll have to repair them.’ We still have the same scissors.
10. In your spare time …
I love to spend time with my family – especially my first grandson. And trips to the beach don’t hurt.
