Bio

From corporate America to breast cancer advocate.

I have spent my career focusing on behavior change and media strategy. I attended Ithaca College (Roy H. Park School of Communication) for my undergraduate degree and continued my studies at Florida State University, receiving a Masters Degree in Instructional Design. Upon finishing that degree I moved to Chicago to work for Accenture, a large management consulting company. While at Accenture, I was selected as 1 of 9 people internationally to attend Northwestern University as a fellow to complete another Masters Degree in the area of Learning Sciences and Simulation Technologies, studying under the internationally renown Roger Schank. My career took me from Chicago to Philadelphia to New York City, where I was living during 9-11. Along the way I managed to complete several marathons and triathlons, including a half ironman.

After over 10 years in corporate America I began to tire of the corporate grind and weekly travel and, in 2003, decided to move back to the small town in Central PA where I grew up. The move was something I was nervous about having lived in large cities since college, but something was telling me it was time. Just 6 months after moving back to my hometown, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. That was April 7, 2004.

Putting her background in media strategy to good work.

Following my diagnosis and the creation of the now famous “feel your boobies” t-shirt, I founded the Feel Your Boobies Foundation in 2004. Very quickly I began to see the power of media, social media particularly, in spreading the “feel your boobies” reminder. Our early social media campaigns got national attention and we were covered in the New York Times, New York Daily News, and other national publications. At one time, Feel Your Boobies was the largest cause on Facebook. And we achieved all of that from my little pink garage in my small hometown. The best part of all? The campaign was saving lives.

Babies after breast cancer - raising the "beasts".

When I was diagnosed, I was single and hadn’t really thought much about marriage or babies. Then, when diagnosed, I faced the possibility that having children wouldn’t be possible. After completing 5 years of Tamoxifen, at age 39 I was given the green light to try to conceive. I had gotten married and we decided to give it a try. And at age 40 and 42, I was lucky enough to give birth to two healthy baby boys - Eli (born 2011), and Leo (born 2012). I call them my beasts, because if breast cancer didn’t kill me, I’m pretty sure these two will. :-)

I’m now a single mom and sit on the board of the Feel Your Boobies Foundation. I work as a Relationship Manager for TrainingPros, a boutique staffing firm that specializes in place Learning & Development talent with our clients. In my “spare” time I enjoy exercising, traveling to visit friends, lounging on the beach, and spending time in cities.