Dina Vieira
Pilon School of Business
Degree: Business Administration – Marketing
Year of graduation: 1992
Listen to your heart
Dina Vieira on finding, and living, her joy
DV Communications President Dina Vieira’s path to success started with a beverage — a fictional drink called Rock a Hula, to be precise. The marketing high school project was Vieira’s first taste of the process of developing ad campaigns, and she was instantly hooked. “It just had me creating on all sorts of different levels — visual, conceptual and physical — and that was when I had my a-ha moment,” she says. “I thought, if I get to be creative and make a living and love what I’m doing, this is my career path.”
This linear vision brought Vieira to Sheridan’s door, and the Ontario College Marketing Competition team, led by Marketing Professor Neil Beattie, now retired. “Neil was the catalyst,” she says. “He had a lot of real life experiences in marketing that he shared, and he was one of those people that would provide really good counsel.” Vieira also points to Sheridan’s co-op program as instrumental in launching her into her first job as a Marketing Coordinator at technology company KO-REC-TYPE.
Following her return to school with a Bachelor's degree in Business Management from Ryerson University, Vieira continued in the tech field as a Marketing Manager with MAXELL Canada before making the momentous decision to strike out on her own.
Fast forward to today, where Vieira has the best of both worlds, using her affinity for personal brands to run her marketing agency, DV Communications, and garnering accolades from her peers and chosen industry. Recently, Vieira’s company was named 2016 Boutique Agency of the Year by the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), also winning an award for a media relations campaign up to $50K for client Triumph Lingerie. She attributes her achievements to a deep-rooted sense of authenticity when doing brand promotion. “I have to use that product myself before going out to create a story about it,” she says. “I was a consumer before I won the Triumph account, and with all the companies I represent. I’m a product expert way before I go in for a pitch.”
Throughout her career, Vieira has lived by this motto of staying true to herself and her goals, following her path and creating new trails when needed. Whether carving out a niche in the highly competitive wedding planning market by creating a course for the Learning Annex and appearing on the television show Exchanging Vows, becoming a certified yoga instructor or writing the book Fit & Fab Over 40, available on Amazon. Vieira uses all these experiences in her work today. “Where I’ve been has helped me to expand my consciousness and become the constant creative force that I am,” she says. “You really do have to listen to the heart. I think most people know what they want but they tend to over rationalize things and go in a different direction. But if you really love what you do, that’s what you should be doing.”
Click here for more about DV Communications’ award-winning media campaign for Triumph Lingerie – The Bra Turns 100.
Click here for more about Sheridan’s Business Administration – Marketing program.
Dina Vieira on finding, and living, her joy
DV Communications President Dina Vieira’s path to success started with a beverage — a fictional drink called Rock a Hula, to be precise. The marketing high school project was Vieira’s first taste of the process of developing ad campaigns, and she was instantly hooked. “It just had me creating on all sorts of different levels — visual, conceptual and physical — and that was when I had my a-ha moment,” she says. “I thought, if I get to be creative and make a living and love what I’m doing, this is my career path.”
This linear vision brought Vieira to Sheridan’s door, and the Ontario College Marketing Competition team, led by Marketing Professor Neil Beattie, now retired. “Neil was the catalyst,” she says. “He had a lot of real life experiences in marketing that he shared, and he was one of those people that would provide really good counsel.” Vieira also points to Sheridan’s co-op program as instrumental in launching her into her first job as a Marketing Coordinator at technology company KO-REC-TYPE.
Following her return to school with a Bachelor's degree in Business Management from Ryerson University, Vieira continued in the tech field as a Marketing Manager with MAXELL Canada before making the momentous decision to strike out on her own.
Fast forward to today, where Vieira has the best of both worlds, using her affinity for personal brands to run her marketing agency, DV Communications, and garnering accolades from her peers and chosen industry. Recently, Vieira’s company was named 2016 Boutique Agency of the Year by the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), also winning an award for a media relations campaign up to $50K for client Triumph Lingerie. She attributes her achievements to a deep-rooted sense of authenticity when doing brand promotion. “I have to use that product myself before going out to create a story about it,” she says. “I was a consumer before I won the Triumph account, and with all the companies I represent. I’m a product expert way before I go in for a pitch.”
Throughout her career, Vieira has lived by this motto of staying true to herself and her goals, following her path and creating new trails when needed. Whether carving out a niche in the highly competitive wedding planning market by creating a course for the Learning Annex and appearing on the television show Exchanging Vows, becoming a certified yoga instructor or writing the book Fit & Fab Over 40, available on Amazon. Vieira uses all these experiences in her work today. “Where I’ve been has helped me to expand my consciousness and become the constant creative force that I am,” she says. “You really do have to listen to the heart. I think most people know what they want but they tend to over rationalize things and go in a different direction. But if you really love what you do, that’s what you should be doing.”
Click here for more about DV Communications’ award-winning media campaign for Triumph Lingerie – The Bra Turns 100.
Click here for more about Sheridan’s Business Administration – Marketing program.