Johanna Dehler grew up in the Tyrol, the Western part of Austria, in Kufstein, a small town surrounded by mountains at the banks of the beautiful green Inn river (they call Kufstein the “Pearl of the Tyrol” and there is a famous song about it, the “Kufsteinlied”—Google it!). Yet, this young girl who seemed to be living in a “Sound of Music” fantasy world was struck by a curious condition: Fernweh, as they call it in German – the desire to leave the familiar and explore. One night, on the radio, she heard “One Day I’ll Fly Away,” and she taped it and listened to it over and over again. She went on to attend the University of Innsbruck and got a PhD in American Studies. While in the US on a Fulbright scholarship, she met her husband David – and life took a different turn, making her build a new life across the ocean. While starting out teaching as an adjunct at the University of Tulsa, she soon began a new career as a grant writer, securing grant funding for various nonprofits, such as Henry Street Settlement, the Immigrant Justice Corps, and Mosholu-Montefiore Community Center. 

Johanna and David have called Bay Ridge their home for fourteen years now. Along with their fifteen-year-daughter Lucy and their cat Stampy, they have grown deep roots in the neighborhood and enjoy being part of this vibrant community where she can share her passion for women’s rights, social justice, immigrant rights and community empowerment. She has been active in many community groups and has joined the board of Bay Ridge Cares in 2016. She is also an avid knitter and yarn-crafter and has been venturing into more creative writing, a challenge she enjoys thoroughly. She has shared her poetry and other musings with the Bay Ridge Poets Society and a series of books published through the local BookMark Shoppe.