non-profit organization which
However, she does note that
provides elementary, middle and
high school students in Los Angeles’
poorest neighborhoods with the
means to find the skills and tools
they need to flourish personally and
academically.
“Inner City Arts does this through
an all-arts approach in afterschool
programs, a full service arts center
and guidance to assist the children in
taking their futures to the next level
of success. I was introduced to this
organization through a ‘Tables for
Ten’ event - an annual fundraiser
where some of the city’s top chefs
and designers collaborate to create
tabletop dining exhibitions,”
Baroness von Neumann says. “I was
chosen to design a dinner table, and
I was introduced to the children who
benefit from this involvement.”  just a touch of Detroit soul, where
As well, she has also worked with
the Hollyrod Foundation for the past
year, a group that provides a wide
selection of services and support to
families enduring the struggles of
having one or more children with
autism. Finally, she helps support the
efforts of Dr. Keith Black, a leading
neurosurgeon and scientist at Cedars
Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles who is
dedicated to research and finding
new improved ways to treat
and cure cancer.
“My husband passed away from a
brain tumor,” says Baroness von
Neumann, “So I, like Dr. Black,
understand the environmental effects
that cause the disease. I simply want
to contribute to furthering his
groundbreaking research.”   responsible for introducing
For each organization, the Baroness
says there are specific reasons she
became involved with each one, and
they enhance her life in myriad
ways.
while she is equally committed to all
of these causes, it’s AINA and March
to the Top that take up the largest
portion of her time.
For the future, she says, “Aside
from aiding in fundraisers with Dr.
Keith Black, I’ve particularly enjoyed
traveling last May with March to the
Top and AINA to finish the housing
of an orphanage in Kenya. Spending
time with the children, getting to
know them, seeing first-hand what
they live like and how much they
really need is life-changing.”
Billed as one part Martha Stewart
and another part Wendy Williams,
this aristocrat-turned-lifestyle-expert
does indeed take her foundations
and her life seriously, always sharing
advice with the utmost elegance and
she was born.
“I was born in Detroit to a law-
enforcement family,” she says. “But
my parent separated when I was five
and I moved with my mother to Los
Angeles. I had what some might call
a Bohemian childhood. My mother
was a free spirit and had likeminded
friends.”
When von Neumann was 18 years
old she met Baron John von
Neumann at a dinner party in Palm
Springs, but she had no idea who he
was at the time.
“We shared a fantastic night of
conversation, but it wasn’t until later
on that I realized that I had been
speaking with not only an Austrian
aristocrat but also the man
Volkswagen in America! I’m not one
to be easily impressed by status, but
when we met again at another party
three months later he was so
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