deborah@kidpowerleadership.com
Deborah Jung is the Founder of Entrepreneur KidPower Leadership™ and Kids Who Care®. With programming that connects Fort Worth to cities around the world, Deborah has invested her career in the belief that children can change the world. With her trademark logo of “Never Grow Up®,” Deborah inspires us all to retain our own KidPowers as we grow and connect our life’s work to our communities.
In 2024, Deborah celebrated 35 years as Executive Director/Producer for Kids Who Care based in the William E. Scott Theatre located in Fort Worth’s Cultural District. As an Arts/Entrepreneur Educator, Producer, Writer, and Director, Deborah now serves as a Consultant for new and long-time local, US, and global partners.
From 1989-2024, Kids Who Car has awarded over $1,350,000 in Hope Scholarships to children across DFW to ensure access to an arts and entrepreneurship business education. Her company has hosted over 1,100 international students between 1989-2024 as part of the July International Kids Who Care Summer Co. Reaching an annual audience of 35,000-40,000, under Deborah’s direction, the Kids Who Care Touring Co. has performed in venues in New York, Los Angeles, Italy, Germany, Albania, Washington D.C., Chicago, Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Orlando, Nashville, across Texas, previewing Off-Broadway at the Lamb’s Theatre and People’s Improv Theatre, with appearances at the Kennedy Center, Bass Hall, The Meyerson, Disneyland, and, most uniquely, at “30,000 feet in the air” on the American Airlines Wish Flight.
Mrs. Jung designed Kid Power Leadership in 1993 for leaders whose desire is to build an intentional, creative, and compassionate team headed on the same path and looking for extraordinary results. This leadership model, originally designed for KWC’s corporate team, soon became Mrs. Jung’s design for an entrepreneur business curriculum built alongside KWC’s arts education. KWC would soon become known for developing the creative mind and entrepreneurship spirit in children. As a consultant, Mrs. Jung produces Kid Power Leadership workshops for corporations, schools, and other non-profits, staff, and boards. Past workshops include Texas Christian University, Tarrant Area Council of Churches, JTaylor Associates, Trinity Valley School, Theatre Arlington, and San Angelo Broadway Kids.
Mrs. Jung’s signature stage direction has become part of the KWC brand with large casts where the adult roles are played by adults and the hero or heroine is always a Kid! Described by Mrs. Jung as a combination of where Disney meets Shakespeare, The Hallmark Hall of Fame meets Peter Paul, and Mary, and the Muppets. Past productions include West Side Story, Matilda, The Little Mermaid, A Christmas Story, Peter Pan, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Annie, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Godspell, Narnia, Shrek, Wizard of Oz, You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, and the beloved “A Christmas Carol”. Under Deborah’s direction Kids Who Care produced Family Concerts with Peter Yarrow, Trout Fishing in America, Sara Hickman, Inca Son, Eddie Coker, and Joseph Vincelli.
Prior to founding Kids Who Care, Jung was in the Resident Co. at Casa Mañana Playhouse (1975-1989) where she directed and/or appeared in over 75 productions. For ten years, she was the Company Manager for Fort Worth Shakespeare in the Park, at which time she created the Shakespeare Acting Institute and appeared onstage in Hamlet and Macbeth. In addition to her professional theatre credits, Deborah has worked with special populations including Mental Health Mental Retardation, Tarrant County Juvenile Detention Center, Texas Gifted and Talented, Cook Children’s Hospital, and the Creative Drama Network.
Mrs. Jung received her BA in Speech and Drama from Trinity University in San Antonio in 1975, with a Secondary Certification for Speech and Drama with the Texas Education Agency, and is a member of Who’s Who, Mortar Board, and a past member of the Actors Equity Association. Deborah was a 2007 “Great Women of Texas” honoree, the 2008 “Legacy of Women Award Recipient for the Arts,” and has received both the “Lifetime Achievement Award” and “Educator of the Year” from Live Theatre League. In 2018, the Arts Council of Fort Worth celebrated Mrs. Jung’s work, naming her “The Heart of Gold Recipient”, and in 2019, she was a recipient of “The Fort Worth Business Press C-Suite Awards.” Most recently in 2024 Mrs. Jung received the Mayor’s Luncheon Arts Entrepreneur Award from the Tarrant County Education Foundation and the “Visionary Leadership” Award from the Holloway Foundation.
Deborah has been married to Dexter Jung since 1977, has 2 grown sons, Chad and Blake, 2 beautiful daughter-in-laws, Sarah and Rebecca, four grandsons, Riley, Carter, Wyatt, and Graham, and a Vizsla named Daisy.