Danielle Kruse-Thoele | YWCA Women of Excellence

Danielle Kruse-Thoele
Family Services Manager
Topeka Habitat for Humanity

Danielle Kruse-Thoele is the Family Services Manager for Topeka Habitat for Humanity. Her combined professional experience in private sector banking and public housing, allows her to serve families with a holistic approach to overcoming generational poverty. Danielle is actively engaged with several Neighborhood Improvement Associations and Neighborhood Associations that Topeka Habitat families reside in, including Quinton Heights Steele and Rolling Meadows.

She is a model for inspiring other women in our community. Her positive attitude and extreme fortitude when facing adversity is a model for other women and empowering them to use their own voices. In her first year of service with Topeka Habitat for Humanity, Danielle worked alongside multiple existing and future homeowners to address issues of racial inequity, domestic violence and education disparity. Each and every day, she approaches our service model with an open mind and a compassionate heart. Danielle has aided numerous families with budget counseling and implementing problem solving methods to address generational poverty one step at a time. She is truly a gift to our organization and to our broader community.

Danielle resides in Topeka with her husband and three children.

TK: What inspires you?
DANIELLE: I constantly find new inspiration in those around me. I work with an incredible team that are always pushing themselves and each other forward. 

TK: What advice do you have for others?
DANIELLE: Just start! Whatever it is that you want to do in life- start doing it. It is easy to get caught up in details and never get something moving but in my experience, my greatest successes have come after my greatest failures. 

TK: What is the greatest lesson you have learned on your journey?
DANIELLE: I have learned we all have the same amount of one finite resource- time. I choose to spend mine the best I can. Work-life “balance” will never happen but you can have work- life harmony. My work allows me to excel professionally in something I am passionate about and my family gets the best me because I’m not just working for retirement. 

The YWCA is on a mission to empower women at all stages in their careers. Diversity in leadership is particularly vital to our vibrant business community in the Greater Topeka Area.

The YWCA is celebrating 31 years of recognizing Women of Excellence in our community with the theme “Dare to be Powerful.” We dare to be powerful, despite whatever obstacles may present themselves along the way. 

“When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.”
- Audre Lorde

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