Meet Danise DiStasi

We were lucky to catch up with Danise DiStasi recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Danise, you’ve got such an interesting story, but before we jump into that, let’s first talk about a topic near and dear to us – generosity. We think success, happiness and wellbeing depends on authentic generosity and empathy and so we’d love to hear about how you become such a generous person – where do you think your generosity comes from?

Mostly from my parents, who were incredibly kind and generous, but also from God. When I realize each and every day how much God loves and blesses me, I can hardly contain my desire to bless others.

I always knew that God loves me, but it played out in my relationships with my dog. Louie is a rescue and was a challenge. I wasn’t sure I could keep him because of his challenging behaviors. But I made two very important decisions: to keep him and to love him in spite of his behaviors. That decision was life-changing for me and for Louie. And because I finally realized how much God loves me, I want others to know about god’s love…and I can express that love through generosity, loving others, and being kind and patient.

I don’t always get it right, but it is a better path for me than to make sure people are impressed by any level of success.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I am a Mama to my daughter, Marisa and Matt, her husband, Nonna to Evi and Mea, and chief food provider to Louie!

I am an author and speaker, and I worked in the medical industry for 27 years after graduating with a degree from Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio. During that time, my positions ranged from nuclear medicine product specialist to manager and vice president of sales and marketing.

In 2001, I joined The Ken Blanchard Companies, working first in business development and then in leadership training. In 2007, I started DiStasi Advisors, LLC, coaching Fortune 500 C-Level executives and their teams on leadership, character development, productivity, performance, and team building solutions.

I have had twenty years of professional writing experience and years of practical, hands-on experience in leadership and business. In 2013, I adopted a seemingly unmanageable dog named Louie, and everything I thought I knew about life, love, and leadership changed. My experience with Louie spurred me to write. I have since teamed up with Evi and Mea to write children’s books based on Louie.

I started to see a very important need for our world to truly understand what love actually means. It is not a warm and fuzzy feeling; it is tough and gritty. But at the core of understanding love is being willing to be a kind and patient person, someone who is not rude or boastful or proud but honest, hopeful, and trustworthy. I taught these characteristics in leadership business training, but I felt that children would understand love much more than adults.

So, I started writing children’s books about Louie, teaching children the importance of love by being a kind and patient person in a series called Louie’s Little Legs. We now have four children’s books:
Louie’s Little Legs and The Magic of Kindness
Louie’s Little Legs and The Magic of Patience
Louie’s Little Legs and The POWER of HOPE
Louie’s Little Legs and The Joy of Christmas

As I saw the impact these books were having on children, I realized my desire was not so much to sell books but to give them to as many children as I could, hence the inception of our nonprofit, Unleash Love.

Our Mission is building character, improving literacy, and eradicating bullying by engaging children’s imagination through the power of storytelling. At Unleash Love, we believe storytelling has the power to change lives. Through imaginative, character-rich stories, we help children build inner strength, boost literacy, and learn to stand up against bullying—one page at a time.

At Unleash Love, we believe every child deserves to grow up in an environment of kindness, respect, and empathy. Yet, for too many children, school is not a safe space. Bullying is an epidemic that devastates not only the lives of students but also their families, teachers, and communities. Bullying is also directly related to lower literacy skills.

The facts are stark:
• 1 in 7 students in grades K-12 have either been victims of bullying or have bullied others.
• 160,000 U.S. children miss school each day due to fear of being bullied.
• 13.6% of adolescents have attempted suicide as a result of bullying.
• 75% of school shootings have been linked to bullying and harassment.
• Literacy skills are declining. In 2024, the average reading score for the nation at grade 4 was 2 points lower compared to 2022, and 5 points lower compared to 2019.

These numbers are more than statistics—they are a call to action. At Unleash Love, we are dedicated to reversing this trend by fostering a culture of kindness, encouraging children to report bullying, and teaching them how to be compassionate leaders.

We are committed to harnessing the magic of storytelling to teach children values that last a lifetime—kindness, empathy, resilience, patience, and hope. Our character-driven books and interactive programs help children:
• Understand their emotions
• Respect differences
• Speak up against bullying
• Fall in love with reading

We make learning personal, imaginative, and deeply impactful—because when a child sees themselves in a story, real transformation begins. And we have such a great time ourselves working with pre-K to 3rd grade, as well as special needs children, their families, and the organizations that serve them.

That’s why we love working with Adopt A Class, The Joe Nuxhall Miracle League, The Munoz Foundation, and Crayons To Computers, plus so many other organizations.

Since 2021, 8448 students have been reached, we’ve been in 35 different schools in Cincinnati & Northern Kentucky, and have partnered with 17 Partner Organizations.

Since 2021, 93% of children who engaged with our books & literacy programs have shown positive character development, while 75% demonstrated improvement in their reading skills.

We will be releasing our 6th children’s book in the fall, Louie’s Little Legs and The POWER of TRUST.

And we will be doing dine and donate event in the fall at Gabby’s Cafe. We are taking a summer break from all the great school events we’ve been involved in.

(References for statistics above: https://www.stopbullying.gov/bullying/effects, According to the National Education Association, PACER Center, CDC, and StopBullying.gov, National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) administered the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)).

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

1: Understanding love by being a patient, kind, hopeful, and trustworthy person.
2: Walking in the gift of creativity that God has given me to tell a story and write.
3: Using my imagination and having childlike faith.

All the wisdom you’ve shared today is sincerely appreciated. Before we go, can you tell us about the main challenge you are currently facing?

Funding is always an issue and is very much needed to continue our work. As a nonprofit, I am part of a long line of others seeking to finance a crucial mission. Fortunately, we have an excellent board that understands the challenges and actively contributes to generating ideas and brainstorming various funding avenues.

While there are more programs than we can count that deal with antibullying, few address the issue by focusing on character building and presenting stories that children actually want to read, thus improving literacy.

And a little known secret…big kids like the stories also 😉

Contact Info:

• Website: https://unleash-love.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UnleashLoveLouie
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/louiesleadership
• Youtube: @unleashlovelouieslittleleg3289