Dana Martin owned and managed Talladega Frights in Bakersfield, Calif., and The Raven’s Gate Haunted Attraction near Fresno, Calif., both professional, for-profit, multi-event haunted attractions for 8 years until taking a break to pursue her newest adventures, Workplace Escapes and Schoolhouse Escapes. Martin has trained over 500 actors and regularly teaches seminars to the haunted attraction industry on methods to retain paid or volunteer employees. Martin now owns and operates Schoolhouse Escapes, the nation’s first escape room experience designed exclusively for elementary schools using Common Core-based standards, and Workplace Escapes, the industry’s first onsite corporate escape game company specializing in gamifying professional learning, development, and training programs using collaborative team play.

Martin earned her degree from CSUB, started her own marketing and communications company, is a freelance writer for Woman’s World magazine, and is a nine-time contributor to Chicken Soup for the Soul. She was the president of Writers of Kern for five years and editor of the nation’s first citizen journalism magazine, The Northwest Voice. She also serves on the board of directors for Vaughn Water Company in Bakersfield.