Weekend Interview: Ridgemont Commercial Construction’s Dana Compton On Choosing Joy While Living With A Terminal Illness
This series goes deep with some of the most compelling figures in commercial real estate: the deal-makers, the game-changers, the city-shapers and the larger-than-life personalities who keep CRE interesting.
Dana Compton was riding a personal high when she was diagnosed with a terminal illness at age 36. Just months after landing her dream job, she was told she might not live past her next birthday.
Compton is one of less than 0.3% of people in the U.S. battling systemic sclerosis, also known as scleroderma, an autoimmune disease that causes the overproduction of collagen. The disease is characterized by the hardening and tightening of the skin but can also affect the respiratory, cardiac and digestive systems. There is no cure for scleroderma.
The diagnosis was a watershed moment for Compton. Raised by a single mother in northeast Alabama, Compton was no stranger to hardship. Despite living in poverty, Compton said her mother, whom she calls her biggest inspiration, always encouraged her and her brother to find the good in life, no matter the circumstances.
“It was really just the three of us, it was us against the world,” she said. “I firmly believe that is where I learned to be strong and where to be resilient.”
That resilience paid off. After processing her grief, Compton began to view her diagnosis as a blessing. Her outlook on life completely changed, she said, and she began to live like she was dying — “because let’s face it,” she said, “I am.”
Eight years post-diagnosis, Compton is the director of business development at Ridgemont Commercial Construction, a Texas-based firm founded in 1974 with projects in a wide range of industries, from industrial to automotive, office spaces to retail and healthcare to senior living. She is also the 2024 president of Commercial Real Estate Women Fort Worth.
A firm believer in laughter as the best medicine, Compton also co-hosts a comedy podcast called Scandalous Diamonds with her best friend Jennifer Lusk.
“We’re all going to die. So why not live like we are facing death, because we all are,” Compton said. “That’s the key here. Make the decisions that make you happy.”
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Bisnow: What brought you to Ridgemont and the role of director of business development?
Compton: I was in architecture, doing business development, and I was working on a lot of really great historic preservation projects that I was very passionate about. But it really wasn't going anywhere. Since I’m not an architect, there was only so far I could go.
Ridgemont was hired to be the general contractor on a very significant project that my firm was the architect on in 2012. I was interfacing with the guys at Ridgemont, and I just loved them. I loved their style. I loved the way that they were tenaciously going after this project. We won the project together and then proceeded to have this really great project for two years.
It wasn't long after that that we started talking about [what it would be like] if I came over to work at Ridgemont. It took six years, and then eventually, in 2018, I just needed to take that next step in my career. It's the best decision I've ever made. I can't imagine working anywhere else because it's just as good as I thought it was. Ridgemont takes incredible care of us, and they realize that people are their greatest asset.
Bisnow: You were diagnosed in 2018, the same year you started at Ridgemont. What was that like?
Compton: It was awful. I was on top of the world. I had been at my new company, Ridgemont, having the absolute time of my life, feeling like I was meaningfully contributing to something again, and it was just really great. I started in March, and then six months later, I turned 36. Two months after that, in November, I got diagnosed. I learned a good lesson there, not to get too on top of the world because things can change in an instant. When you think life could not be more perfect, that’s usually when shit hits the fan.
Bisnow: What led to your diagnosis?
Compton: I woke up one morning and the inside of my mouth was covered in open sores. I was perfectly fine when I went to bed, and I woke up and was in incredibly severe pain. I couldn’t talk, couldn’t swallow water.
My doctor saw me, and he was very concerned. He said, ‘I’ve been doing this for 35 years, and I’ve never seen anything like this.’ He called someone who was some kind of mouth surgeon, and he told my doctor that it sounded autoimmune and that he needed to do XYZ bloodwork.
He called me the next day and said I had an ANA marker in my bloodwork. He recommended me to a rheumatologist. The rheumatologist said she didn’t need to do any more tests, that she could see exactly what I had because it’s so rare and specific that it couldn’t be anything else.
‘It’s called scleroderma, and it’s an autoimmune disease,’ the doctor said. ‘It essentially hardens all of your internal organs, and you eventually die from it. There is a medication, but it takes 90 days to work. Hopefully you survive those 90 days. If it doesn’t work, there’s a 50-50 chance you won’t see your next birthday, so you need to get your affairs in order.’
Bisnow: After that experience, a colleague of yours recommended you to a Dallas-based rheumatologist who specializes in scleroderma. What did she tell you?
Compton: She said, ‘I’m going to be real honest with you, it’s bleak. There is no cure.’ She told me the next 90 days would be super critical because that’s how long it takes for the medicine to build up in your system. I had a rough 90 days, it was not good. My body was going downhill. Everything was filling up with collagen, and I couldn’t breathe.
Bisnow: How did your husband react to your diagnosis?
Compton: My husband, of course, knew what was going on. I told him what the doctor said — that best-case scenario, if the medicine worked, I might have a good 20 years. I was 36, so the clock starts now. He could have been so upset, but he just said, ‘Well, then we better start doing all the things you want to do.’ And that’s what we did. We just started living.
Bisnow: How has having a terminal illness changed your outlook on life?
Compton: I chose to look at it like it was a gift. It reframed the way I think about everything in my life. I quit wasting my time on things that weren't serving the happiness that I'm seeking. Since I know my time is limited, I have a distinct goal to be happy all the time.
If I don't [choose happiness], I will go to a very dark place. I practice gratitude for what is going right in my life, which is a lot of things. It’s been my dream for years to be the president of CREW, that’s how much I love this organization. I have my dream job and my dream husband. I focus on what is going right. What’s going wrong for me is a really big wrong, and it sucks, but I still think what’s going right outweighs it.
Bisnow: How do you manage to balance your career with taking care of your health?
Compton: From time to time, there are a lot of doctor’s appointments, so I have to manage that and make sure I’m not falling behind on my job and my volunteer duties and my personal life.
My husband and I chose to not have kids years before I got sick. I also cannot have children, and have known that for quite some time, but we chose to also not seek alternate ways to be parents. I think it was divine intervention. I cannot imagine how much harder this would be to deal with if I had children. I have the space to handle my illness and all the other aspects of my life, and I am grateful that we made that decision. We’ve never looked back.
Bisnow: How has your diagnosis impacted your leadership style, not just as Ridgemont’s director of business development but as president of CREW Fort Worth?
Compton: For those who know about my illness, I hope that it serves as a reminder to make the right choices for yourself. When we’re in CREW together, get the most out of it and don’t take anything for granted. It’s almost like I have a platform for my mission to choose happiness and joy.
I want them to be proud that their leader is unwaveringly dedicated to them while also facing a debilitating terminal illness. Advancing the careers of women in commercial real estate is so important to me that I am choosing to do it with this illness. It’s a little hard on me sometimes, I’ll be honest. But it really is that important, and I want them to see that.
Bisnow: What do you hope to achieve during your term as CREW president?
Compton: I want to open up the conversation around joy and mental health. I don’t want it to just be about business. Business is a piece of it, but business isn’t everything.
It used to not be okay as a woman in commercial real estate to admit that you were struggling in any way. Struggling to get your job done, struggling with imposter syndrome, struggling with any of the things that we struggle with all the time. My goal is for [mental health] to be a part of the conversation because it is far more important to me that we take care of each other as people.
Bisnow: You’ve already accomplished so much in your career. Is there anything in your personal life you still strive toward?
Compton: I want to live on the beach one day. I don't even care what the house or the condo looks like. I just want to be able to go out in the morning with my husband and walk on the beach. That's my ultimate dream.
Bisnow: What is your grand prediction for 2024?
Compton: Here’s where the comedy comes in. My prediction for the year is that we’re going to have a presidential election where half of America is sorely disappointed.
Bisnow: This is a weekend interview — so what is your favorite weekend routine or activity?
Compton: I love to cook dinner with my husband. We put on music and dance around in the kitchen and cook amazing food. More food than we could ever eat. Earlier in the day, if we go to a museum and look at art — I’m a big fan of the classics — and then we come home and cook dinner, that truly is the perfect day. The only thing that would make it more perfect is if we were doing that in a house on the beach.
