Author: Deborah Kim

Danielle was born and raised in San Diego, California. She received a BA in Latin American Studies with an emphasis on Portuguese Language at San Diego State University and Certificate in Translation from NYU. She met her future husband, Tim, playing in a band in high school. They went to the prom “as friends,” started dating in college, and now live on the Westside with their three daughters.

When she was three years old, Danielle’s parents were going to get a divorce and someone kept bugging them to come to church—so they did and dedicated their lives to Jesus. Even during her phase as a rebellious teenager, she never stopped reading the Bible because she loved writing poetry and found deep, interesting words to use in the Psalms and wisdom books. Over time, she came to realize the life advice she was reading made sense in day-to-day life, which was when she realized Christianity wasn’t just her parent’s religion, but was actually true and she wanted the life it described.

Her husband was a musician at a 2007 event where Reality founding pastor Tim Chaddick spoke. He was blown away by Chaddick’s preaching and told Danielle about it, so they started listening to Reality LA sermons from then on and occasionally would steal away to LA to attend. When they moved to LA for her husband’s job in January, 2013, Reality LA was obviously the church for them! At first, their time here was a welcome respite from involvement at their previous church, but after several years they began to serve at Reality LA and Danielle eventually joined staff.

Danielle feels so close to God at the beach and through music; she’s passionate about travel, she once swam in open waters with sharks (it was surprisingly serene!), and her favorite thing about living in LA is how people come from everywhere all over the world so she gets to hear so many languages spoken everywhere she goes.