Discovery Gateway

“I’ve always loved museums. I remember being really little, standing in front of a painting, and my mom saying, ‘Someone made that - with a brush.’” For Kathleen Bodenlos, that moment stuck. Raised in Pittsburgh by a mother who found ways to expose her daughters to art, science, and culture despite limited means, Kathleen learned early on that museums were places of possibility. “We didn’t have a lot, but my mom made sure we had the arts,” she said. “Looking back, I realize how much she sacrificed, but she lit a spark in me that’s still burning.” Today, as CEO of Discovery Gateway Children’s Museum, Kathleen is paying that gift forward - revitalizing the museum into one of Utah’s most dynamic cultural institutions. But the path was far from linear.