Redefine Design by Koroseal

Meet the Creator: Dena Edwards

Sales Consultant // Customer Resource + Visionary

At Koroseal, our mission is to support customers in making their design dreams a reality. Our sales consultants work closely with customers to ensure the process is seamless and enjoyable - from start to finish. As a Sales Consultant, Dena Edwards leverages her extensive product knowledge, creative vision, and passion for problem solving to support customers throughout Oklahoma and New Mexico. With her unwavering dedication and approachable personality, Dena’s clients know they can entrust her with a project’s success.

Dena’s Creator Journey

Spending most of her life in Oklahoma, Dena has a rich history with the state. Although born in Louisville, both of Dena’s parents were originally from Oklahoma and moved their family back by the time she was four years old. Growing up, Dena always had a passion for people and problem solving. Coupled with a love for writing, she studied Journalism in college, and worked as a local newspaper reporter for five years. As a journalist, Dena perfected her craft of interviewing, learning how to connect with people, and uncovering insights that were helpful to a larger story. She enjoyed the art of assimilating information, and finding the best solution for bringing a story to life.

After working as a reporter, Dena chose to stay home and raise her two children, Averi and Easton. She had married her highschool sweetheart, Aaron, and was ready to focus on her role as a parent. While a stay-at-home mom, Dena and Aaron flipped their first rental house together and Dena discovered a new interest in interior design. She uncovered a unique facet to her creativity - the ability to look beyond the existing, and develop a vision for a space. As her children grew older, Dena’s interest in design transpired, and four years later, she earned an interior design degree.

As part of a senior level interior design class project, Dena interviewed the globally recognized Oklahoma City-based architect Rand Elliot. His passion and intense focus beyond the aesthetics of a space, but on the importance of the feelings and mood incurred by those aesthetics, were inspiring. Rand’s use of light and color to achieve a mood shifted Dena’s approach. She found it particularly motivating to think about the impact interior design projects have on one’s life, rather than just creating another “pretty space.”

In 2012, Dena started a new career path, combining her Journalism and Interior Design degrees to help clients as a Koroseal Sales Consultant. She covered all of Oklahoma, using her interviewing skills to help identify customer needs, and her Interior Design expertise to find them the perfect design solutions. In 2022, her territory expanded to include New Mexico. Today, Dena continues to serve both territories, helping customers across market segments. She enjoys building strong relationships, and helping drive projects forward - from conception to completion.

Supporting the Customer’s Vision

With Dena’s solution-focused mindset and design-savvy creativity, she is easily able to help customers create designs they love, as well as ensure general contractors and installers have the appropriate materials to help facilitate accurate quotes, appropriate lead times, and, ultimately, successful executions. Providing professional service promptly and efficiently is at the core of Dena’s wheelhouse.

“To me, the best customer service is anticipating the next step and, when necessary, offering solutions to existing or foreseen problems - even before they happen. It’s a proactive mindset.”

In her Sales Consultant role, Dena prioritizes innovation and trying new things - from products, to presentation techniques. By continuing to evolve, her daily work stays fresh and exciting for both her and her clients. She enjoys innovating together, and has found that the process also helps to further build her relationships with her customers, something she holds close to her heart. In fact, Dena’s strong partnerships led her to being named Sales Rep of the year in 2019. In support of the customer’s vision, “no” is not an option for Dena. When an obstacle occurs, she always strives to offer a solution for her customer. Creating with an open mind makes Dena an advocate for both her clients, and those she supports in her personal life.

"This quote from Maya Angelou resonates deep with me, ‘Do the best you can until you know better. Then, when you know better, do better.’"

The more we learn, the better we can be. Dena and her husband found out that their son was gay when he was 16, and at the time, she still held very traditional beliefs. Although she felt conflicted with how she initially processed the news, rather than drowning in guilt, Dena moved forward. After a deep study, Dena reconciled her faith with her son’s identity, and became not just an ally, but an advocate. She and her husband established a non-profit organization, Dads Hug Too. Together, Dena and Aaron run the organization, helping to empower LGBTQ+ youth and adults with knowledge and resources to help them gain confidence, self-sufficiency, and safety.

Always striving to improve, Dena’s approachable and innovative demeanor helps cultivate supportive and long-lasting relationships with our customers. She works diligently to ensure each client project is executed in a way that not only meets the vision, but exceeds expectations throughout the process.

Creating with Dena

We met with Dena to learn more about her approach and inspiration. See what else she had to say!

Describe a project that allowed you to help bring a customer’s dream to life.

Dena: My favorite project to date is the Oklahoma State University McKnight Performing Arts Center, in Stillwater OK. I was able to work with Beck Design’s Oklahoma offices to achieve a stunning facility, leveraging Arbor as a focal of the project. Beck had a rendering drawn of a very large (120’+) curved wood wall in the lobby, lit and highlighted from the outside by window walls. It was stunning, but they were not sure how they would achieve it. Together, using Arbor, we were able to make that vision come to fruition!

Interested in joining the Koroseal team? Learn more about Careers at Koroseal