Women of the Year 2022: Meet Kathy DeLaura, the woman who saved ballet in Cincinnati
Her first memory is of her brother crying. He always cried.
When she was 4, Kathy DeLaura moved to Pennsylvania. Her brother was almost 3. DeLaura remembers him in a yellow snowsuit, and she remembers he didn’t talk much. He just seemed to cry.
But on the day they moved into their new home, DeLaura remembers her brother speaking an entire sentence: “What are we doing here?”
At the time, she and her siblings hated moving. But as she looks back on it, she says it’s part of what made her what she is today. It’s part of what turned her into a tireless advocate for nonprofits and a fundraiser credited with saving ballet in Cincinnati.
“I can talk to anyone,” DeLaura says.
It’s 5:30 a.m. in Washington, where she is visiting family. DeLaura, now 72, is whispering when she brings up another childhood memory.
It was raining, and DeLaura was 14. She’s not sure if she had an umbrella, but she knows she was relatively new to Mount Prospect in Illinois, near Chicago. She was always new. She moved 10 times before she turned 14.
The day started when DeLaura asked her mom what they were doing. For her mom, the answer was nothing. For DeLaura, the answer was going door to door to collect donations for March of Dimes, an organization dedicated to improving the health of mothers and babies.
It didn’t matter if it was raining, her mom said it would make her feel better to help others.
“Hi, I’m Kathy from down the street,” DeLaura would say. “The house with brown shutters.”
It surprised her how willing people were to listen, and how willing they were to donate.
“How much do you want?”
She hadn’t prepared for that question. Most people gave her a quarter. One person gave her $5, and DeLaura came home happy. She raised $50.
Saving the Cincinnati Ballet
In 1990, the Cincinnati Ballet was deep in debt and seemed to be on its way to more. DeLaura had worked there a few years earlier as the director of fundraising and marketing. She originally moved to Cincinnati for her husband’s work.
Now, board members asked her to come back. The job they offered was director of marketing and development. In reality, it was much bigger than that: Save the ballet.
It was a job she was made for. It’s why one colleague often introduces DeLaura by saying her middle name is “Get it done.”
At the ballet, the staff’s morale was low. In 1991, the artistic director died in a car crash. Vendors were calling and asking about unpaid bills. The dancers rehearsed on the fifth floor of a building on Central Parkway where Coffee Emporium is now. DeLaura made it a point to take donors there.
“It was unpleasant,” she says. “We were the only human inhabitants of the building.”
Slowly, things started to change. In 1993, the company celebrated its 30-year anniversary. In 1994, the ballet paid off previous debt and moved into a $2 million new home. DeLaura then helped hire an artistic director who served for 25 years.
DeLaura eventually became an executive director herself, before she started her own consulting company. Name a nonprofit in the region, and there’s a good chance DeLaura has helped it.
DeLaura doesn’t view herself as a salesperson. That’s part of it, asking for money. It’s also part of her. It always has been. Her mom didn’t work, so she spent a great deal of time fundraising for her daughter’s elementary school. It's why she says there is more to fundraising than money.
“Fundraising changes people’s lives,” DeLaura says.
When her dad was in his late 80s, he volunteered for Meals on Wheels in Florida. It made her family nervous, because he wasn’t in the best health and no one lived nearby. He had a terrible sense of direction, and he didn’t know how to print out a map.
She remembers him talking to her father about how it hurt to get in and out of the car so many times a day. And she remembers asking: “Why are you doing it?”
“Sometimes, I’m the only person these people see, and it makes me feel good to talk with them,” he said. “I guess I got this from you.”
What inspires you to give back?
"Seeing the joy in people when they experience a live performance or take a tour of the many museums in town.Working to remedy the disparities for people who are homeless or have disabilities, so they feel valued and included. Being engaged and seeing the passion of volunteers who work hard to make organizations successful in delivering their mission."
What need in the community would you like to see addressed?
"Affordable housing. Discrimination of all types. Food insecurity. More accessible education opportunities for kids, no matter their socioeconomic position."
Who most influenced or inspired you to care about others?
"My mother. She literally pushed me out the door when I was 14 to collect for the March of Dimes. Going door to door in the rain was just motivation enough to get me hooked on fundraising to change people's lives."
About Kathy DeLaura
Birthplace: Albion, New York.
Current residence: Clifton.
Family: Husband Ron Steinhoff, four stepchildren, four grandchildren, two big dogs.
Education: Education degree from Western Illinois University.
Occupation: Consultant for nonprofit organizations, managing director at Partners in Change.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati Ballet: Meet the woman who saved ballet in Cincinnati
