Felicity Tao

For over 20 years, Felicity Tao has been an active volunteer in the Cincinnati community. Her work has centered on increasing Asian American visibility and improving the region’s overall cross-cultural understanding.

As Sr. Vice President of Marketing and Communications at Greater Cincinnati Foundation, Felicity and her colleagues engage with the community by connecting generous people with effective nonprofits to create a vibrant region where everyone has a fair opportunity to thrive. “My philosophy is, be a doer,” Felicity says. “I strongly believe in what Gandhi said. If you want to see the change, you be the change.”

The Cincinnati region has grown a lot since Felicity arrived after immigrating from China. Diversity has significantly increased, she says, and especially the AAPI community. Through her efforts, she has worked to give immigrant communities the resources they need to thrive. Because, Felicity says, no matter how well a city does socially or economically, no matter how great the infrastructure is or how many cultural events it hosts, it doesn’t serve everyone if the opportunities aren’t equal among different backgrounds, races, and ethnicities.

“I would think that everybody has potential to be the best version of themselves,” she says. “If you provide the right resources, they can thrive.”

Felicity’s approach to community service has helped her bring support, visibility, and opportunity to the local Asian American community. In collaboration with the Cincinnati USA Convention and Visitors Bureau, she started Cincinnati Moon Festival—an annual event celebrating Asian culture—and Greater Cincinnati Chinese Cultural Exchange Association, a non-profit dedicated to uplifting Asian American heritage through cultural initiatives.

Over the past 20 years, Felicity has set a strong example for change making and leadership within the Asian American community, and she wants to encourage other immigrants to do the same. Find your North Star, she says, and move towards it—but don’t get bogged down hoping for the perfect outcome. That’s not where the magic happens. “You change people in the process, not at the destination,” she says.

Since its inception, GCCCEA has created many “high-impact” experiences in the region, Felicity says. They brought the Chinese Railroad Workers Photography Exhibit from Stanford University to the Downtown Main Library, organized an anti-Asian hate rally in 2021, and curated discussions around the AAPI experience for AAPI Heritage Month. The non-profit also created a youth program aimed at helping young Asian Americans
embrace their cultural roots.

Felicity has also applied her volunteer efforts to her professional life. In her previous job at Cincinnati Bell, she started the Asian Pacific Islander Employee Resource Group, a decision that taught her that change can happen incrementally and through anyone.

“[It] really proved to me everybody could step up and make a difference,” she says. “You don’t have to be a leader. You can take baby steps.”

Felicity believes that volunteers are the building blocks of the community, and that every volunteer makes a difference. For immigrants and even new immigrants, she says contributing to your community is important. They are a group who knows what it is to leave everything behind, and to move beyond that experience with resilience. And in this journey, they have proven they have what it takes to create real and dramatic change.

“Look at yourself,” Felicity says to her fellow immigrants. “You made such a bold decision. You can make bold moves—you know that. It is in you.”