Walking the halls of Royal Oak’s Corewell Health Beaumont Hospital with Danialle Karmanos, one feels as if they’re in the presence of a celebrity: Nurses pop up to greet her as she passes their stations, people in the waiting room glance over at the glamorous woman in their midst, a Corewell employee is on standby for … it’s not exactly clear.
In this particular part of the third floor, Karmanos is somewhat famous: After all, the wing is named after her and her husband, Peter Karmanos Jr., who donated $6 million to create the Karmanos Natural Birth Center in 2014. Outfitted with cushy beds and big hydrotherapy tubs, the center’s six suites offer a tranquil contrast to the hospital’s traditional birthing rooms and include Karmanos’s handpicked touches, down to the same wallpaper she has in her home.
“I felt this huge sense of responsibility to create a different experience for women who wanted natural childbirth, where they could write their own story,” says Karmanos, 51, who birthed all four of her sons — 15-year-old twins, a 13-year-old, and a 12-year-old — sans epidural. Her resolve to do so was ignited when a doctor predicted her twins would be born prematurely due to a pregnancy complication, and perhaps not even survive. “I said, ‘They’re not coming before 36 weeks, and I’m going to have them with no drugs,’” she recalls. Sure enough, she was right.
The Bloomfield Hills-based philanthropist applies that same determination and focus to all her endeavors — and there have been many. In the past two decades, she has created programs that have helped countless children, teens, and women across metro Detroit.
Aside from the Natural Birth Center, Karmanos was the force behind Kids Work It Out, an initiative that’s improved the lives of more than 40,000 metro Detroit kids through yoga and mindfulness. (The program, which turns 20 this year, is now run by Wayne State University.) She also founded The Cuddlers, a movement to comfort babies and children hospitalized without loved ones to care for them.
“I think I was born with a heart for service,” says the Dearborn native, who has been giving to charity since she was a 12-year-old slinging pies at her dad’s Detroit pizzeria. Raised by a single, working mom, Karmanos lived in a tiny flat, and her family was on food stamps for a time. “That defines your perspective and gives you empathy for certain situations and experiences.”
Despite the time, energy, and money she’s dedicated to the causes she’s championed, Karmanos doesn’t have a “strategic plan” for where to get involved. She simply sees a need and rises to meet it. “I bloom where I’m planted,” she says. Take The Cuddlers, for example: In 2017, her son underwent an emergency appendectomy; while in the hospital with him, she noticed that some babies didn’t have family around to soothe them. “I was like, ‘I can do something about this; I can find people to cuddle babies,’” she says. (To date, the organization has provided about 8,000 hours of cuddles.)
These days, Karmanos is nurturing young people in another way: She and Peter recently announced a $2 million gift to create a cutting-edge film center at Detroit Country Day School, where three of their sons attend school. The Studios at Detroit Country Day (slated to open in January 2025 as of press time) features a podcast studio and Hollywood-level technology, including the same StageCraft video wall used in the Star Wars series The Mandalorian.
Karmanos’s passion for the project stems from her love of storytelling — her first career was writing and producing newscasts for Chrysler — and “creating more opportunities and access for kids to tell more stories.”
She is also involved with Detroit’s College for Creative Studies, where she and Peter donated $1 million to support the school’s Fashion Accessories Design program and student scholarships. Last September, with Karmanos’s help, six CCS alumni presented their collections during Paris Fashion Week. “It’s a pinch-me moment that I get to be part of this,” she says. “Typically, I focus my energy on fixing things where they’re broken, but [my recent undertakings] are more about nourishing possibilities.”
This story originally appeared in the January 2025 issue of Hour Detroit magazine. To read more, including the full list of the 2025 Hour Detroiters pick up a copy of Hour Detroit at a local retail outlet. Our digital edition will be available on Jan. 6.
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