It’s day 15 of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and WHAT A DAY! There is something truly magical, beautiful, and inspiring about being surrounded by a crowd of survivors, their loved ones, and those devoted to the mission of ending breast cancer! Here are some highlights from today!
Shout out to our AMAZING volunteers who organized the event, worked the tents, and kept it going!
Beautiful people doing AMAZING work to raise dollars and awareness for breast cancer!
A GORGEOUS 10 year survivor and her bestie volunteering and supporting all the walkers!Meet The Pink Crusader, who cheers us on and makes us smile at events! Way to Go!
The Incomparable Riley Weston, Actress, Singer, Writer, Author, Activist, and our TOP FUNDRAISER!!!!!
To all those in the thick of it with breast cancer, survivors, their caregivers and loved ones, and those who have lost loved ones too soon – we work for you!
Want to help? Here’s the Link to My Fundraiser! Or donate to your favorite survivor, team, or other nonprofit dedicated to eradicating breast cancer!
It’s day 10 of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month! Today is all about raising funds to support the vital mission of non-profits devoted to eradicating breast cancer! This year, I’m raising funds for Susan G. Komen through the Greater Nashville More Than Pink Walk!
Help me reach my goal!
***Note: I am a Komen employee, but my fundraising is part of my personal advocacy work outside of the organization, and opinions expressed in this blog are my own. I do not speak for Komen here.***
You can support my fundraiser HERE! My goal is to raise $1,000!
Why fundraising? Because I understand how important the mission is for patients, survivors, caregivers, and loved ones who have been affected by breast cancer. As a breast cancer researcher, funding was the number one priority for me in my lab. Without funding to pay for qualified personnel, supplies, infrastructure, and other items necessary to keep a state-of-the-art laboratory running, innovations and treatments of the future can’t happen.
As an advocate and survivor, I understand how important advances in screening, diagnostics, treatments, and survivorship are for survivors like me and for future survivors. I benefitted from advanced surgical and molecular diagnostic technologies, and I know that if my cancer comes back, there are so many more treatment options to keep me alive and thriving.
Being in the field, I understand that inequities and inequalities in breast cancer screening and care plague our nation in communities of color, in LGBTQIA+ communities, in people with disabilities, and in poor and un/underinsured communities. Fundraising for organizations that make eliminating disparities a vital part of their mission is key to make sure everybody has an equal and just opportunity to be as healthy as possible.
Fundraising also helps me feel empowered. Everyone’s breast cancer experience is unique. For me, the feeling of helplessness was one of my biggest challenges. Working to eradicate breast cancer through advocacy and fundraising has helped me take back my power. And it gives me hope! We could all use that!
Please support your favorite breast cancer charity for National Breast Cancer Awareness Month! Every donation matters!
And stay tuned for pictures from the More Than Pink Walk. I’ll be rocking pink hair and a pink boa to celebrate!
I’m so excited to share news about my new job with the Susan G. Komen Foundation! It may come as a bit of a surprise to those who’ve been following my blog and slices of science and life as a scientist. Why leave research? Well, I actually haven’t left research. I’m just doing a different kind of research. More on that later, but first, why the change? As with any big life decision, there were a LOT of contributing factors. Some of the most important include:
Having an Immediate Impact on Patients and Survivors
I love research, value my time in the laboratory, and appreciate every project I had the opportunity to lead or contribute to in some way. I commend and support my colleagues, especially those who will continue my projects in the lab and build on them to make great strides. Since becoming a survivor, however, something was missing for me. I hope something I’ve done in the lab makes it to the clinic someday, but there’s no guarantee. As a survivor, it’s really important to me to make a difference now. At Komen, I’ll have that opportunity. And I’ll also have the opportunity to support Komen Scholars and grantees conducting research! Since I’ll be coding funded grants (click here for more on Common Scientific Outline [CSO] codes) to capture data, which involves reading applications, I’ll also be able to keep up with the latest advances in the field – advances that I can share with my followers and readers here!
100% Remote Work
Me in my Home Office! Photo Credit Patrick Sieders (a.k.a. Hubby)
This is so great in the age of Covid! I want to protect my health and the health of my loved ones, so being able to work from home minimizes my risk of exposure to the SARS-CoV-2 virus and all its variants. Since I no longer have a commute, I’m saving on gas (and cutting my carbon footprint), can hit the ground running by simply turning on my computer and starting my work day, and I can be more efficient and focused. My furry office mates are great company, and I can eat healthier from home and carve out more time for exercise. No excuses!
Also, with 100% remote work, the job can move with me! My husband and bought land in North Carolina for our dream home last year. We haven’t been able to break ground yet due to ongoing supply chain issues and high prices (Thanks, Covid), but it will happen soon. I didn’t want to be moving while looking for a new job at the same time. Don’t have to worry about that now!
Work/Life Balance
Academic Research is very rewarding and has a lot of pros: flexibility, freedom to pursue a myriad of research directions (so long as you can get funding), and being the first to make a new discovery or push the field forward, to name a few. But there are also challenges. The struggle to acquire funding and increasing competition as funding is limited creates a great deal of stress, not to mention long, long hours generating new preliminary data and preparing new grant applications. Before I left, I submitted three grant applications in the space of two months, and it took a toll on me physically and mentally. It also took me away from the things I love about research, like actually doing experiments, mentoring, networking and collaborating, and it took away so much personal time and time with my family. In academia, you’re never really “off.” You’re constantly bringing home papers to read, answering emails after hours, performing literature searches and working on manuscripts before and after dinner and family time, and often working into the wee hours of the morning. At this point in my life and career, I wanted and needed a better work/life balance – as a human being, as a parent, as a caregiver for aging parents – I needed to stop burning my candle at both ends. Komen is all about work/life balance.
Career Growth and Learning New Skills
As a Research Evaluation Manager, I’ll be tracking the impact of Komen funded research in many areas, including products like biomarkers and new drugs, clinical trials, new interventions, and career progression and trajectories for Komen-funded investigators using data collected by amazing colleagues since the early 1980s. The data are so rich and informative, a veritable history of progress in breast cancer research and milestones in treatments. I’m so excited to dig in! I’ll also be involved in adding to the data by coding newly funded grants, as well as evaluating the impact of research and programs sponsored by Komen. There are a wealth of opportunities, and I’m excited to be a part of it!
I’m also stoked about opportunities in communication and outreach! As a writer and communicator with a mission to bring accessible science to the public, this is my jam! I’m hoping to use the skills I honed from writing Talking To My Tatas to be a vocal and effective ambassador for science and liaison between researchers and stakeholders.
A Mission and Community I Believe In
The mission of Susan G. Komen is to save lives by meeting the most critical needs in our communities and investing in breakthrough research to prevent and cure breast cancer. Everyone working at Komen is 100% committed to this mission, which is patient and survivor focused. It’s not just lip service – many of the colleagues I’ve met in my first week are breast cancer survivors or have been directly impacted by breast cancer through friends, family, and loved ones diagnosed with breast cancer. I feel comfortable sharing my story and feel a deep sense of connection and common purpose when I hear the stories of my colleagues. It makes the work so meaningful. I believe in it, and I’m committed to giving it my all to be a part of the solution to the huge problem that is breast cancer.
Talking Tatas 