Photo courtesy of Kathy Stewart.
Kathy Stewart has always wanted to help people.
She’s been a lawyer, a local business owner, directed public improvement districts and most recently, District 10’s Dallas City councilmember. Stewart’s career has been shaped by a visceral need to be useful to her community.
“I kept saying I wanted to help people.” Stewart says. “And there’s a lot of things you could do with that, right? So it took me a while to figure it out.”
Originally from Fayetteville, Stewart went to the University of Texas at Austin to study liberal arts.
“I am a Razorback. At some point you don’t grow up in Fayetteville and not become a Razorback,” Stewart says with a smile. “But both of my parents went to UT. They felt like I needed to, and they felt this way about my sisters too, that we needed to go to college not in the same town as they lived.”
She says she loved her time at UT. It probably doesn’t hurt that she met her husband of over 40 years, Robb, on a blind date while in Austin. After graduating, the pair moved to Dallas. She worked for United Way and the American Arbitration Association before enrolling in Southern Methodist University’s School of Law.
Along the way, Stewart and her husband found a home in White Rock Valley. They moved in around New Years in 1984.
“I was studying for the LSAT and my husband was working in a law firm Downtown,” she says. “So we were looking for a neighborhood that I could get to SMU and if we decided to stay we knew the schools were good and it was a good investment.”
She eventually sent all three of her children to those same schools, saying she’s proud to be the mother of three Wildcat alumni. After graduating from law school, she went on to work for her father-in-law in probate and estate planning.
“They needed to go through probate and that always sounds kind of scary to people,” she says. “So I was the person to advocate for them and walk them through that process and I found that very fulfilling.”
In the early 2000s, she says she began having a few doubts about her career direction. She and a group of area investors decided to open the original Highlands Cafe in 2004. She says she did it to help support the area close to the intersection of Walnut Hill Lane and Audelia Road.
“Just within a couple years time, a lot of the retail left and I wanted to do something you know, I wanted to respond somehow,” Stewart says. “And there was a guy and his brother who were going to put in a restaurant. So I went to help raise money for that and then went to my good friend Anita Siegers because she’s a foodie, and I’m not a foodie, she was back of house I was front of house. I needed her and I ended up being the managing partner for 10 years. And that was a great experience.”
Stewart and the partners sold the cafe in 2014 after a decade of serving the neighborhood. Having become increasingly interested in public service, she went on to serve as executive director for area public improvement districts such as Lake Highlands PID, Lake Highlands North PID and Uptown Dallas Inc. Working with area law enforcement, local businesses and property managers, Stewart sought to improve public safety and enact beautification efforts.
In 2023, incumbent D10 Councilmember Adam McGough reached the council term limit after eight years. Stewart, who had considered running before, announced her campaign. Her listed campaign priorities included public safety, capital improvements, and parks and green space. She would go on to win in a landslide with close to 70% of the vote.
“That was very affirming,” she says. “Yes, it was a great feeling. And it was energizing as well. There’s a lot to learn in your first term. And I was very lucky to be put on a lot of committees.”
Outside of council chambers, she says she enjoys spending time with her family, especially her grandchildren.
Entering the second year of her first term, Stewart has made no announcement regarding her plans for the general election in May. She will continue to focus on public safety while finding better ways to listen to constituents — a concern noted by some D10 neighbors.
“I want to continue to find ways to engage with the community,” she says. “I had a lot of coffee meetings. We’ve had community meetings. But I still want to find a way to really find the best avenue for listening to what people’s concerns are. Because every once in a while I’m surprised by one.”
