We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Katia Conte a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Katia thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

Shortly after my oldest daughter passed away in 2020, I took the biggest risk of my life: I started a pediatric cancer non-profit to support families affected by pediatric cancer. At the time, I had no roadmap, no major funders lined up, and no guarantee it would work. All I had was a deep sense that it needed to exist—and the fear that maybe I was wrong.

The idea was born out of a personal experience. Someone close to me had gone through the nightmare of a child’s cancer diagnosis (my daughter). I watched up close as her world fell apart—not just from the medical toll, but from the emotional, financial, and logistical chaos that came with it. There were support systems, yes, but they were fragmented, hard to access, and often overwhelmed. I kept thinking, “There has to be a better way.”

But I wasn’t a doctor. I wasn’t a nonprofit executive. I didn’t come from wealth or influence. I just had a vision and a willingness to work. Starting the organization meant asking people for help when I wasn’t sure they’d say yes and learning by doing.

In those early days, my family and I channeled our grief into action by gathering friends and family to build this foundation. The first fundraiser the foundation hosted was our inaugural 5K which raised over $86,000 which is a testament to the community’s overwhelming support of our mission.

What kept me going was the families. Even when we could only help one family a month, the relief and gratitude they showed reminded me why I had taken the leap. Slowly, momentum built. A local hospital became a partner. Then a school ran a fundraiser. Then a parent whose child we helped became one of our strongest advocates. Word spread, donations followed, and suddenly what had once felt impossible was becoming sustainable.

Today, the non-profit supports hundreds of families each year through our In-Treatment and Memorial Support Program, and hospital visits. We’re still growing, still learning, and still pushing, but we’re no longer wondering if it’s going to work. It is working.

Looking back, the risk wasn’t just about failure. It was about being vulnerable enough to try something I couldn’t control; to admit I didn’t have all the answers, and to believe that impact sometimes starts small and grows from there.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

The Daniela Conte Foundation was created in loving memory of my daughter, Daniela, who passed away at the age of eight from Rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare and aggressive pediatric cancer. What began as a way to honor her legacy has grown into a thriving mission-driven organization dedicated to supporting other families facing the unimaginable.

DCF provides direct financial assistance to families facing a pediatric cancer diagnosis. We focus on supporting the whole family because one of the things no one talks about, and no family is ever prepared for, is how deeply this diagnosis affects every single member. Parents, siblings, and the entire support system are suddenly thrust into a world where nothing feels stable anymore.

And the reality is, even the best insurance doesn’t come close to covering everything. It doesn’t cover the gas it takes to get to and from treatment, the cost of childcare for siblings during hospital stays, or the financial strain that comes with losing income just as the bills are piling up—when a parent has no choice but to become a full-time caregiver. When Daniela was diagnosed, there were so many things we never imagined we’d need, so many moments where the smallest bit of help could have made such a difference. DCF exists to fill that gap for families who are going through the hardest moments of their lives. I know firsthand what that feels like.

Beyond direct assistance, we also work to grow advocacy and fund critical research for childhood cancers like Rhabdomyosarcoma. Childhood cancer receives only four percent of federal research funding, despite being the number one cause of death by disease in American children, with diagnoses continuing to rise.

At its heart, DCF is about community. Whether it’s through our annual 5K, Butterfly Gala, local Gold-Out games, or blood drives held in Daniela’s honor, we create spaces where people can come together in hope and remembrance to take meaningful action. Every DCF event, grant, and every donation made is a way to stand with families facing the unimaginable and to say, with love and conviction that no family should have to go through this alone.

We are a 100-percent volunteer run organization, so every dollar raised goes directly to helping childhood cancer families. This isn’t just a foundation, it’s a promise I made to my daughter to keep fighting for other children like her.

Daniela’s legacy grounds everything we do, and what I hope people take away from our story is that even in grief, you can build something beautiful. And with enough love and determination, even an eight-year-old child can move mountains.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

There was a moment, not long after Daniela passed, when I was standing in my kitchen, still deep in grief and surrounded by sympathy cards, thinking: What now? I had no roadmap for how to grieve a child, let alone how to channel that grief into something greater.

I opened a drawer and found one of the drawings Daniela had made for me during treatment. It was one of many small acts of love she offered, even while facing so much herself. It was bright and joyful. It was
something she made just to bring a little happiness to me in a time when our whole family was hurting.

It made me remember how fiercely Daniela lived and loved. She was the kind of child who would comfort me when I was struggling, and who would smile to lift her siblings’ spirits every chance she found. I remembered her making a wish to help other families like ours, and in that moment, her strength became my compass.

That same week, I started making calls. I reached out to friends, family, neighbors, anyone who might help me build something in her name. I didn’t have the answers, but I had Daniela’s spirit driving me.

And that’s how the foundation began. With a mother’s love and a refusal to let Daniela’s light fade.

For me, resilience has never been about having it all together. It’s about showing up, over and over again, even when your heart is broken.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

One of the hardest lessons I had to unlearn was that I couldn’t do it all on my own. I used to believe that if I just tried hard enough or cared deeply enough, I could shoulder everything myself.

But grief has a way of teaching you about limits.

I have a background in business, and at first, I approached the foundation with the mindset that I could manage every fundraiser and every grant application. But the truth is, in five short years, the dream of the Daniela Conte Foundation grew far beyond anything I had first imagined, and it took me nearly burning out to realize that asking for help isn’t a weakness. It’s a strength.

Letting others in was so healing. The volunteers, friends, and fellow parents who showed up to support this work right when it was needed created space for new ideas and fresh energy that has made the foundation stronger in ways I could never have done alone.

I’ve learned that leading with vulnerability and allowing others to share the load expands our mission and amplifies this work.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.danielacontefoundation.org/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danielacontefdn/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/danielacontefoundation/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katia-conte-937217216/
• Twitter: https://x.com/DanielaConteFdn
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@danielacontefoundation919