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Denise Essman says she takes time every day to watch both the sunrise and the sunset. She might also tell you just how beautiful the full moon was last night.

But she’s still a few minutes late for an interview with the Business Record, because she’s shepherding an important project out the door.

“We never aspired to be the biggest, just the best,” Essman said of Essman/Associates, the marketing and communications firm that she and her late husband, Al Essman, founded in 1977.

Early in the company’s history, she was elected to a six-year term on the national board of the American Marketing Association, in addition to serving as the Iowa chapter president. “I really think that was my biggest break,” she said of the added exposure that brought the company.

Through the years, Essman/Associates has won numerous local, national and international awards for outstanding marketing campaigns, with clients that range from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies. Her market research firm, Essman/Research, has been consistently recognized as a top-rated focus group facility. The two companies, which together make up Essman/Companies, currently have 12 full-time and five part-time employees.

“We’re lean and mean, but we do a mountain-load of work,” she said.

Essman serves on the board of governors of her alma mater, Iowa State University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing. She received the ISU Alumni Citation of Achievement Award in 2003 and earlier this year was presented with the university’s John DeVries Service Award. She earned a Master of Business Administration degree from Drake University in 1980.

Essman serves on the boards of the Iowa Association of Business and Industry, ISU Research Park and Goodwill Industries.

“She’s certainly an example for other business women of how to succeed,” said Cyril Mandelbaum, whom the Business Record named its first Woman Business Owner of the Year in 2007. “She’s a great mentor; she’s just a strong woman.”

Essman’s client list reads like a who’s who of Greater Des Moines organizations, among them the World Food Prize Foundation.

“I highly applaud the choice,” Kenneth Quinn, the foundation’s president, said of Essman’s award. “Denise is a terrific person, and she runs a wonderful company. She produced so many materials for us, and they were first-class all the way.”

Essman’s passion for marketing began at ISU. Having enrolled with her sights set on finding a husband, not a career, her focus changed after taking her first marketing class.

“The light bulb went off,” she said. “Wow, I thought, you can apply this to anything – any product, service, people. I am still passionate today about marketing.”

Keeping up with changing technology in every industry it represents is her company’s biggest challenge, Essman said. “If you don’t know the media habits of the market you’re targeting, it’s a huge waste of dollars. So it’s up to us to recommend the right media and to measure the results. It’s a huge challenge, and it changes daily.”

Since her husband’s death in March, Essman has tried to keep the promise she made to him to lead a more balanced life.

“I’ve always been the type of person who loves what they do and worked long hours. … Right now I would say success is spending time on things that are truly important in your life.”

• Education: Bachelor of Science, marketing, Iowa State University; Master of Business Administration, Drake University.

• Hometown: Newton, Iowa

• Family: Three sons: Brad, Brady and Barrett

• Hobbies: Travel, gardening, reading, biking

• Words to live by: Lead a balanced life; enjoy yourself; live in the moment.