Leadership Greater Topeka 2022: CLEOTHA M. DANIELS

Photo by: Braden Dimick

WHAT IS YOUR THEME SONG?

Outstanding by The Gap Band

WHY DID YOU CHOOSE YOUR CAREER?

I have wanted to be an attorney since I saw the movie A Few Good Men when I was 11. But, if we narrow it down to healthcare, I entered the industry when I was 16 and worked as a dietary aide at the hospital in Onaga throughout high school. Working there was eye-opening in the sense of how important access to healthcare is in rural communities. Ensuring that good health care is accessible to those in rural areas is a passion of mine and I am really thankful that I can engage in that passion through my work at Midwest Health.

WHAT IS THE MEANING OF YOUR NAME?

I am actually named after my paternal grandmother. I never met her as she passed the year before I was born, but I know how important she was to so many people in my family—my father especially. When he lost her, it knocked the breath out of him, so I think the best way he could honor her was to name me after her. I hope that I am honoring her name because it is really important to me. Here is the pronunciation: Clee-oh-thuh.

BEST ADVICE YOU’VE RECEIVED?

After I lost my dad to COVID-19 in 2020, grief hit me like a freight train. I was depressed, anxious and dealing with a lot of internal conflicts. My therapist told me, “Your life is not meant to be lived this way. So many of us think that whatever season we are in will be ours forever, but it’s not. You deserve to be at peace and happy, but you have to know that yourself.”