Featured Person from Cleveland - Kelly Harris-DeBerry

Courtesy of Kelly Harris-DeBerry

I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Kelly Harris-DeBerry,  an award-winning poet, freelance writer, and the owner of KHD Communications. As you will learn from the interview, Kelly is a gifted storyteller and has such a way with words that you can’t help but be drawn in. Keep listening through to the end so you don’t miss her poem about Cleveland! We discussed how she grew up in East Cleveland among a family of artists (dad, a visual artist; mom, a hairdresser; and older brother, a musician) and eventually graduated from Cleveland Heights High School and Kent State University. Kelly tells the story of how winning a pageant at Kent State University led to her being known around campus as a poet, and how her positions at the City of Shaker Heights and American Greetings were steppingstones on her journey to where she is now - a poet, business writer, and communications entrepreneur in New Orleans. She also shares how she met her husband, Jarvis, currently a journalist for MSNBC, while at a fellowship in Pittsburgh. Kelly and I talked about the parallels she sees between East Cleveland and New Orleans, as she was a witness to the rebuilding of New Orleans post-Katrina. Speaking of Katrina, her poem, Post-Katrina Blues, has been translated and is on display in Germany. We talked about Cleveland’s identity and how she thinks she could help the City of Cleveland refocus its branding. Did you know that the NOLA brass bands love to play “Casanova” by LeVert? Me either! Here is a piece that Kelly wrote about it.  Kelly mentioned that she is on the hunt for a really good Polish Boy, so if you have any recommendations, please pass them along.

Before I go, I must brag that Kelly’s daughter Naomi wrote a book entitled My Daddy Needs a Gift (about her dad needing a kidney transplant) and that Naomi has been named one of Time Magazine’s 2025 Girls of the Year!  The only American girl on the list! Kelly shared about the events that led to this, too.  People From Cleveland Are Dope and so are their kids!  I hope you enjoy the interview.

You can reach Kelly at via www.kellyhd.com and on Instagram: @iamkellyhd