Share Your Joy: Kathryne Gardette on Authentic Curiosity
Interview and written by Rita DiBello. Photography by Angenise Rawls.
Even before I had the chance to meet her in person, I had a hunch that Kathryne Gardette’s energy was something special. Her texts and emails regularly begin with anything from “magnificent Monday” to “spectacular Saturday” and always ALWAYS sign off with an invitation to “share your joy.” When we finally sat down together on a June evening at Brew House – a true Walnut Hills institution, just like Gardette herself – she proved my hunch correct.
Gardette describes herself as a “positive broker” and an artistic, logistic, and civic renaissance woman. On the artistic side, she and her husband, drummer Baba Charles Miller, are both part of the percussion performance and teaching ensemble, Drums for Peace. She is also a fifth-generation fiber artist, frequently found with a needle in hand and wearing a handmade piece adorned with a Ghanaian Adinkra message symbol. Professionally, she is a Certified Meeting Professional working in logistics and marketing with Prestige AV Services. And civically, she is president of the Walnut Hills Area Council and a board member for two nonprofits, ArtWorks and Learning Through Art.
Her community in Walnut Hills is a true passion for Gardette. Growing up in the nearby Evanston neighborhood, on a street her grandparents integrated in 1944, she has vivid memories of Walnut Hills over the years. She recalls Saturdays shopping at Black-owned businesses on the strip-like Thatched Roof, selling handcrafted jewelry and clothes made of African fabrics, and Ebony Records, a place to talk and buy music.
She’s been a resident and civic leader in the neighborhood for decades, and when I ask her to describe Walnut Hills in a word or two, she responds, “an eclectic welcoming.” This is one of the throughlines, even as the neighborhood has fluctuated and evolved, even as it faces more changes today.
When we make room for more than one [woman] at the table, then the changes that we know are important for this world – whether it’s our planet, whether it’s our housing stock, whether it’s our pay rate – will occur.
She points out that although the neighborhood hasn’t always been great at communicating it, Walnut Hills has always been a creative neighborhood. It is home to major places in Eden Park like Cincinnati Art Museum and the Krohn Conservatory, to smaller Cincinnati businesses like Planet Dance and SKT Ceramics, and even to individual artists such as Gardette and her husband. This creative side of the neighborhood has been a constant, she says, and it’s also grown in recent years as more and more people want to come to be a part of that energy. She also mentions that just in the past few months, ArtWorks and the Cincinnati Ballet have both moved their offices and studios into the neighborhood.
Yet alongside this continuous creativity, Gardette notices changes in civic engagement. As she puts it, “People live in communities, but they don’t always go to the community meetings.”
The obvious next question for Gardette, then, is how to invite and engage more younger people to get involved. She tells me, “I’m a believer because it’s what was instilled in me, that give back is time, talent, and treasure. It isn’t always about giving money. Your time can be so much more valuable than any dollar that you can give to an organization.”
She doesn’t think this change is unique to Walnut Hills, and she’d like to see the value of civic engagement instilled not only at home but in schools as well. Through her own leadership on the Area Council, she’s excited about opportunities for residents to get involved through smaller groups like the Health and Wellness Committee or the newly formed Arts and Culture Committee that joins residents from Walnut Hills and neighboring East Walnut Hills. These are entry points that can get people engaged at a level they’re comfortable with.
Welcoming isn’t just something that happens through these more official channels, though. Gardette is also a believer that building community and inviting greater engagement can and should happen at a personal level. She shared a story of encountering a newcomer at a neighborhood event who was standing off on his own, getting ready to leave because he didn’t know anyone and didn’t have anyone to talk to. She approached him and began to strike up a conversation. The lesson in this? “Be curious about the person who is in front of you. Authentically, be curious about that person. Because if you’re authentically curious, you might find, ‘Oh, I want to know more about that. How can I get involved with that?’ And because if you ask questions, they’ll ask you questions.”
Gardette knows that it’s with this kind of authentic curiosity that we learn and discover who people are.
This is a sincerity Gardette holds paramount. She shares a quote – source unknown – that she once read and was so touched by, it had a lasting impact: “Joy is what comes through you when you know what a blessing you are.” This quote is at the heart of that sign-off in her letters and emails – “share your joy” – and it’s at the heart of how she tries to approach all her encounters and interactions. As she puts it, “We’re humans having human experiences. We do not need to be stuffy going through life. Whether we’re having an in-person conversation or a word document conversation, we can influence it with the humanity that we have, in the tone in which we speak. Show up in every way.”
We closed our conversation with a turn to the topic of influential women in her life. Choosing just one was a challenge as she named teachers who’d solidified for her the value of civic engagement, a neighborhood business owner who understood the importance of connecting with residents as well as the business community, and professional mentors who’d encouraged her in a field that didn’t – and still doesn’t – have many women of color. Ultimately, though, it is the women in her family. Her mother, Ruth Ann, her grandmother –who started Kathryne on the path of community volunteering at the age of three – or her namesake, Kathryne Octavia, who showed her that we are all worthy and have a purpose regardless of skin color or economics.
The advice she shares for women: “We need to celebrate and support each other and promote each other. Whether we’re talking about where we work, or some of the boards we sit on. When we make room for more than one at the table, then the changes that we know are important for this world – whether it’s our planet, whether it’s our housing stock, whether it’s our pay rate – will occur. Because we’ll be at the table.”
What an inspiration it was for me to share a table with Kathryne Gardette and to be reminded of the impact we all have on our communities when we share our joy.
Community Mix is our monthly hodge-podge of content from the voices of a hodge-podge of beautiful Cincinnatians.
Women of Cincy is a certified 501(c)3. This belongs to you. Consider supporting future stories with a donation.