Yolanda D. Dawan was born in San Francisco, CA, and lived there until she moved to Oakland in the 80s with her mother and brothers after a brief period of living in Pacifica, CA.
Her formative years were spent running around the streets of Oakland and attending elementary, Jr. High and High School where she graduated from Oakland High in 1989.
She is a mother of two wonderful daughters and a grandmother. She started having a family at the age of 20 as a sophomore in college. Back then, those around her thought she would end up a statistic—another young African American female having children too soon.
Well, that negativity fueled her, and she was determined not to let her current circumstances be why she didn’t achieve her goals. She got married in 1994 and had another daughter. By this time, she had been out of college for some time and the hopes of going back seemed to be slipping away.
Not letting that stop her, she began working as an onsite property manager for a small 26-unit complex in San Leandro, CA. This stepping stone would later be the catalyst to fuel her 25-year long journey of being a property management and real estate professional.
More education would soon follow along with a BS in Business and MS in Information Systems and Technology Management with an emphasis in Project Management that she earned in 2016 from Capella University. One of the things that fueled her was a drive to always do better. To help those that needed help and wanted to make a change.
This was the reason she later created Blueprint Project Management. A consulting company that could provide information and support for those that couldn’t afford to hire a professional. During her career she had seen far too many businesses shut down and companies filed for bankruptcy from problems that ultimately could have been prevented. In the Black Community this happened more, and she
was determined to try and help prevent this from recurring as much as possible.
Today, Yolanda still works in the Commercial Property Management Industry. She created and hosts Blueprint Analysis podcast, where she provides information that can assist with your learning and growth, which could lead to a better version of yourself. She interviews people living their truth and making a difference. This book is the first of many that will be written by her. It also has a companion journal called Transforming Chaos to Communication. She would like to encourage anyone considering writing a book to do so.
Thank you,
