Heather Rodale
President and Founder of Healing Through The Arts, Inc.
Heather Rodale founded the not-for-profit Healing Through The Arts (HTTA.org) in 2008 with the mission “Where those who are healing find strength, hope, and inspiration through the arts.” Healing Through The Arts motivates individuals who are diagnosed with a chronic condition to create their “new normal” lifestyle when changes are necessary for survival and quality of life. This idea was based on her own healing from cancer where she found the value of endless art ideas that helped provide a hopeful focus, positive outlook, and distraction from pain. The Healing Arts Center and office of Healing Through The Arts located in Allentown, hosts workshops and events supporting the connection of art to healing and quality of life.
Heather created the Hope & Healing Juried Art Show for high school and college students in 2011. This annual event gives students the opportunity to create and donate inspirational, original artwork for healthcare and healing facilities. More than 1,000 pieces of free art has been donated to more than 25 hospitals and healing facilities in the greater Lehigh Valley area. Select art is also used to create digital meditations by combining the images with music of nationally renowned musicians who support the work of Healing Through The Arts by granting the rights to use their music. HTTA.org features meditations with the music of Jim Brickman, Kira Willey, and the LIV ON collaborative album by Olivia Newton-John, Amy Sky, and Beth Nielsen Chapman.
Previously, Heather served as Vice President of Community Outreach in the fields of Arts, Education, and Wellness and served on the company’s Board of Directors for Rodale Inc., her family's publishing company, until its sale in 2018. She maintained responsibly for special projects including the company’s child care center and the McKinley Elementary School Project (United Way’s Community School Program). Prior to this role she served as Vice President of Leadership Development where she managed the company’s employee training programs. In 1999, she sponsored a three-generation Kosovo refugee family of 12 resettling in the United States and led a team of volunteers to help with the effort. Heather’s professional career began as an elementary school teacher in the Northwestern Lehigh School District in Pennsylvania.
She holds a Masters in Elementary Education and a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism, both from Lehigh University. She holds an Associate degree in Elementary Education from Harcum College, whom awarded her an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters in 2000. In addition, she completed post-graduate management courses in human resources at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and in family business leadership at the International Institute for Management Development in Lausanne, Switzerland.
She has received awards for Community Service from Harcum College (2007), Allentown Symphony Association (2009), Cancer Support Community (2012), and LifePath LV-PICPA [Lehigh Valley Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants] (2014).