Oct. 30, 2024
Transforming Adversity into Empowerment: Tammy Lewis Journey from Cancer Survivor to Health Advocate and Entrepreneur
Tamara Lewis, better known as Tammy, takes us on a journey of transformation and resilience as she navigates the tumultuous path from healthcare professional to inspiring entrepreneur. Diagnosed with breast cancer in 2018, Tammy didn't just face her personal battle head-on; she turned it into a mission to empower women everywhere. Through creating Pink Pearl Hero and her innovative One Dope Planner, Tammy has become a beacon of hope, advocating for self-care and early detection, especially for younger women. Her story underscores the importance of regular mammograms and highlights how she found strength and solace through running during her recovery, proving that resilience knows no bounds.
Tammy's journey doesn't stop at survival—it's about thriving with purpose. Discover how the transformative power of faith, community support, and setting personal goals became central to her healing process. This episode delves into practical coping strategies and the unexpected twists that come with breast cancer treatment, reminding us all to adapt with a future-focused mindset. Tammy's tales from the front lines of health advocacy, coupled with her personal insights, offer a compelling narrative on overcoming life's adversities with grace and determination. Listen as we uncover the story behind the Pink Pearl Hero nonprofit and Tammy's unwavering commitment to addressing critical health disparities, offering listeners not just inspiration but a call to action.
Connect with Tammy on her social media platforms and make sure you get her
1Dope Planner
https://www.instagram.com/1dopeplanner?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==
Linkedln - Tamara (Tammy) Lewis - Regional Vice President (RVP) - RT Lewis Agency | LinkedIn
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/tamara.lewis.102
Stay tuned for the next episode of Ready Set Collaborate with Wanda Pearson. Subscribe - Follow and Like Ready Set Collaborate with Wanda Pearson
Chapters
00:00 - Empowering Breast Cancer Awareness and Collaboration
11:55 - Navigating Breast Cancer Treatment and Survival
21:22 - Personal Journey of Resilience and Purpose
Transcript
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Welcome to Ready Set Collaborate podcast with Rhonda Pearson, where we will dive deep into the world of networking, collaboration and partnership, unlocking the secrets to a successful team working within innovation.
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Whether you're an entrepreneur, a creative professional or just someone eager to understand the power of networking and collaboration, this podcast is your go-to resource.
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Join us as we explore the stories, strategies and insights from experts, entrepreneurs and thought leaders who have experienced the magic of networking and collaboration to achieve successful results.
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Tune in to Ready.
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Set Collaborate podcast on a journey towards achieving your goals with host Wanda Pearson.
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Welcome.
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Welcome to the Ready Set Collaborate podcast with Wanda Pearson.
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I am so excited to have my guest here, tamara Lewis from St Louis.
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That's right.
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Yes, I'm so excited to have her here and I wanted to start this actually not start it off at the end of the month, but Breast Cancer Awareness Month, because October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
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And who is better to be my guest but Tamara, because she's been through it all and she's such an inspiration to actually help people, to have those tips that she can share with us.
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But, tammy, tell us a little bit about yourself and I'm going to talk about your bio.
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But just you.
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Tell us a little bit about you and then I'm going to read your bio.
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Yeah, thank you.
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First of all, thank you, ms Wanda, for reaching out to me and entrusting me with this message, of course, to increase the awareness of breast cancer.
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And so a little bit about my background.
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My background is actually healthcare.
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A lot of people don't know that's how I started.
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My first grant as a health educator was the Breast and Cervical Cancer Project.
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So it's just, it's amazing.
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It's not amazing, it's all divine, right.
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How life comes back, kind of full circle.
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I did that.
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I went into pharmaceutical sales for a little while and then left pharmaceuticals and went into finance.
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So I'm a broker.
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Now I have two beautiful young ladies that we're raising.
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We are raising to become women, and my passion has always been women's empowerment.
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When I got diagnosed in 2018, of course, nobody ever thinks it's going to happen to them because I have girlfriends who say look, if you can get breast cancer, anybody can get breast cancer and at first, when I remember my first girlfriend told me that I was like, oh, that's odd for somebody to say.
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But I said but you know what?
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Now that's my purpose, because now people who think that they're immune they've seen me, they see me run races they're like you're probably the healthiest person we know and so I think that's just part of my journey is that I ran a 10K literally 30 days before I got diagnosed In my tip-top shape at 44, which surprisingly is not that old and when I went through all my processes I was actually the youngest person at that time, but my mentee she got diagnosed at 28.
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I think a lot of women think that they're immune because we're not old.
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Okay, no, breast cancer has no race, no age, no creed, any of that.
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So Absolutely.
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I appreciate that because actually it's funny and I'm going to get to your bio.
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My mother actually had got breast cancer.
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This is my stepmother.
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She got breast cancer.
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Her doctor told her to make sure your daughter go and get a mammogram.
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His daughter got it at 25 years old.
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So I actually started getting breast mammograms since I was in my 20s and I get it every year.
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I don't care, I just get it every year and I tell my daughters the same thing you got to go get tested because you just never know.
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Now they have such better equipment to do the mammograms.
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Because after they found out I had a cyst thank God it was not malignant, but it was a cyst.
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But they had to go through that.
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But they only found out through the 3D Exactly.
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But let me I don't want to waste time I'm going to talk about your bio.
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Let people know all what you've been doing here.
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So Tammy Lewis from St Louis I know Tammy Lewis from St Louis and I'm from Chicago, so we're from the Midwesterners here, right?
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That's right, Because NPHRVP is a regional vice president of Primerica, founder of Pink Pearl Hero and creator of One Dope Planner.
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I have that.
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After a 12 year career in pharmaceuticals, she transitioned her career to finance and entrepreneurship to help others achieve financial success.
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Following the breast cancer diagnosis in 2018, she launched the Pink Pearl Hero to increase awareness of breast cancer, promote self-care and women's empowerment, and develop One Dope Planner to enhance productivity.
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Tammy is also a member of Delta Sigma Thea Sorority Incorporated.
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I didn't know that.
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I'm learning more about you than what you speak, but thank you so much, Tammy.
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I'm calling you Tammy, that's why I know you're Tammy.
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Yeah, that's where I go by.
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Yeah, thank you so much for being on this, because you have such a wealth of knowledge and inspiration that you can actually help us through this here.
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So let me ask you a question about your experience.
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Can you share your personal journey with breast cancer and I think you already said something about it and how it has impacted your life?
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Yeah.
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So I call my breast cancer journey my Jonah moment, and it didn't start like that, though, and I always tell people look, I ran a 10K.
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I was actually checking off my bucket list, and here's why the 10K is important is, that was actually my therapy and my gauge through this whole process, because anytime I had a surgery, I was always like, what can I get back on the trails?
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When can I start running again?
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Not knowing that would be my therapy through the process.
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So I ran a 10K.
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I thought it was a 5K that's a different story, but that's where it started triggering the mindset.
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That's a different story, but that's where it started triggering the mindset, because when I realized, literally 30 days before the peach tree, that it was a 10K and not a 5K, in my mind I said, okay, tammy, it's only three more miles, just figure it out, it's just three more miles, and I did and I actually did pretty good, considering my first time.
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Then I get diagnosed 30 days later, my first time.
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Then I get diagnosed 30 days later, and when I got the official diagnosis, because I went for my mammogram and this was my second visit to my well woman exam, because I missed the first one because I was so busy and I got there late, I almost missed the second one.
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Because of the same thing, and I share that, because we as women if we're not our own heroes and take care of ourselves first, because everybody knows when mama goes down, the ship goes down, but for some reason we don't understand or we don't correlate.
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When we're on a plane it says, if the plane is going down, you put your mask on first and then you put everybody else's on, but in life it doesn't cross.
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For some reason it doesn't.
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So I almost missed it.
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So my lump was found at my woman exam that's why they're so important and it was a big one.
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It was sitting right underneath the left breast and my midwife she was like you never had a mammogram, you're actually late.
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So let's go ahead and get this baseline the baseline in 24 hours turned into.
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We found something.
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We want to look some more.
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And the ultrasounds, the biopsies, and when we got the final diagnosis and I actually knew before, my doctor told me because it was the one test result I couldn't see because she had it locked.
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And when I went to go see my breast surgeon and she told me, she said my recommendation is a left breast mastectomy and I said why are we messing around with this thing?
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Let's do both.
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And we go, we going to do this, guns a blazing.
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And I just remember saying Lord, why me?
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Yeah, oops, it's okay, it's okay, oops.
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It's okay.
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It's okay, you survived girl, you survived.
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I think when we walk through life, most of us walk in man's world, and I'm not talking about gender, man.
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I'm talking about man's world and when I was like Lord, why me?
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I did everything right I went to school, got the education, got married, Then I had kids.
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But then I had to realize that's man's, not God's will.
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And as soon as that came into my spirit, I said you know what I said?
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That came into my spirit, I said, you know what I said, something big is about to happen, Amen.
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And let's go.
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I said, and in that process I'm going to meet some phenomenal women and we're going to lock arms and do some phenomenal things.
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And that's when my whole mindset started shifting on this whole process, Literally probably a day after I got home from the surgery.
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So I did, they did both of my surgeries.
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So they did the reconstruction and the double mastectomy at the same time, so it was a six hour surgery.
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Once.
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I got home, my mentor called me and she said hey, Sugar, I need you to read this book for me, and it's called Jonah by Priscilla Schreier.
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Jonah, something to read this book for me, and it's called.
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Jonah by Priscilla Schreier.
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Jonah something but, it's by Priscilla Schreier and it basically was talking about how sometimes in life, god has to sit you down for your next journey, and that's again was another mindset reshift.
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I'm like, okay, so this is just my Jonah moment.
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The Lord, you ain't listening and I know you better than you, and this is the only way I can get your attention and because of breast cancer.
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That's why I started Pete Pearl Hero.
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That's why I started really researching why women don't have the wealth that we should have, and that's also where the One Door Planner came in.
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None of that, none of that was in the vision before breast cancer.
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Yeah.
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Yeah, go ahead.
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I'm sorry, no, and that helped.
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And my favorite verse of when I retired from my dean was Jeremiah says that has a plan for you.
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You just never know.
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It didn't stop when I left IBM.
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It didn't stop there, but he has a plan for it, even though we say, no, that's not going to happen to me, but it does.
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But you have a purpose, tammy, to be able to share what you just shared emotionally, because a lot of people can't deal with it, and that's what the strength that you bring to other women to be able to help them during this difficult time and I want to ask you this question too.
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So that was an unexpected moment of your life and you got the strength and you got the support that helped you get through these tough times, and you did.
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But how did your perspective of life change after your experience with breast cancer?
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so one.
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I enjoy the moment and and I am a lot of people when they see me, they see me in the business mode, but I'm like if it ain't fun, I'm done, I'm gonna have fun, I'm gonna experience life.
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I don't experience people.
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So my perspective on life and people sometimes folks see me from the outside.
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They're like you're always so busy.
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I'm.
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I'm like no, I'm catching up and collapsing timeframes because there's some other things that I want to do in life.
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So you may see it as me being busy, but everything I do is intentional.
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Now, and I think intentionality has been the biggest thing.
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And then I just really now I understand my purpose, that I'm walking in purpose, one of the things that and it's just like a lot of things in life I'm like, oh okay, that makes sense.
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God, that's why you had me do that, because I needed to do this.
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So everything is now coming into alignment, where I understand why I went through.
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Me saying went through, but it was all part of the process, the biggest thing that really helped me as I was going through that and I always say growing through it now Instead of going through it.
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I was growing through it Even though my body was physically in 2018, my mind was in 2019.
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So everything I was doing was to impact 2019.
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Even though I physically had to go through things, and that's so true.
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But you're going through the future, you're thinking ahead or what's going to happen.
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So what advice would you give to someone who has just been diagnosed with breast cancer?
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yeah, one is is the first thing here, is the first thing.
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The first thing is to get back into the word, because you're going to need a very strong faith.
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Yes, because you're going to have to make decisions and you're going to need discernment in that process and you're going to need either.
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You're going to need discernment and you're going to need people around you.
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Everybody around you is not going to have your best interest and you got to be able to discern that.
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So that's why I said first get into your word, start from Genesis.
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I'm on 1 Samuel right now.
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I started all over.
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I was like oh my God, this was in the Bible.
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Now, what does that have to do with breast cancer?
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It has to do with the faith part of it.
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I met.
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We just got back and we did the Sister Strut in St Louis our pink pro hero team which is for breast cancer awareness and I met a newly diagnosed breast cancer survivor and the first thing I told her was because she was talking about her faith and I said do me a favor.
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I said take a moment and find out what he's really trying to tell you, because he's pausing you for a purpose purpose.
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But do you know what the pause is for?
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And she looked at me and look, the crazy thing, miss wanda is.
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I shocked myself yeah, that's what god had you say to her.
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Yes, that moment you just never know when he's going to come out and just put those words in your mouth to help somebody.
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And it's about tough love too, about thinking about yourself and all that.
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And I'm glad you did do that.
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So, and you are, I am so proud of you.
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I really am, because I met you in 2018.
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Yeah, that's when I met you in 2018.
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Then you told us about your journey and it's just so great to hear someone like you and especially, you're right, you got to have your faith in the word.
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You got it, because that's what's going to help you get through those tough times.
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Some people may say, oh, I don't believe in god, I don't believe yet, but god got you here and you never know what plans he have for you and he already know what plans he has for you.
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But you got to go through that journey and make those mistakes and get through it to and my brother told me this you got to go through what you're going through to understand why you're going through it, and I have a consent.
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He preached about that.
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I never forgot that, because I said why am I going through it?
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Don't ask why.
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Just ask God, help me Lord, help me Lord.
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So I am so proud of you, what you're doing.
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Yeah, so I was going to ask you about the coping strategies that you find most helpful when dealing with emotional and physical total of treatment.
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What kind of coping strategies did you deal with?
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One part, of course, was my faith.
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That was first.
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The second thing was running.
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That was my biggest coping strategy because I knew I was back Now.
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I wasn't running, but two weeks after surgery, I walked to the trail.
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That was my mindset.
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If I can't walk to this trail, then I'm not progressing.
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Now, like I said, I ain't run, I ain't even do a fast walk, I just literally walked to the trail and walked right back, because our home is right by the trail and that just let me know mindset-wise.
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Okay, you're going in the right direction.
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Every surgery okay, you're going in the right direction.
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Every surgery, though I was telling my plastic surgeon, so when can I start running again?
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He was like, can you give me like a couple of weeks?
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We just did a major surgery and so that was my biggest one.
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But that's where me being outside and seeing the butterflies and seeing the grass grow and seeing the transition, that whole mindset, it was a faith run for me.
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Actually, it was a faith run that and again writing my goals down.
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I think a lot of people again, we just walk haphazardly.
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We're just in life Get up, go to work, come home, get up, go to work.
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Okay, it's the weekend and I pulled the list.
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I've completed everything on that list except for two things, and those things will get done this year.
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So I got to the end of this year to get it done.
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But when I pulled the list out I'm like, oh my God, I did all of that.
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I got all that done in 2019.
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And I think our current paradigm, especially when you're growing through that, and I think our current paradigm, especially when you're growing through that because the original game plan was the double mastectomy done.
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So in my mind I'm like great, let's just get this done and we don't keep this thing moving.
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And then, after the surgery, it was like we found another spot in the surgery, so they're like so now we need to do radiation.
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And it changed the whole plan because I was doing reconstruction, we found out that I was also estrogen positive, so I had to have another surgery.
00:17:07.196 --> 00:17:11.926
And so when you're going through, okay, we're here, and then all of a sudden you got another loophole.
00:17:11.926 --> 00:17:22.726
You got to look at what's going to be happening in the future and that was the thing that kept me focused, like all right, let's deal with it, but this is where I need to go, this is the goals.
00:17:22.726 --> 00:17:25.353
I know we got to deal with this right now, but that is not where we're going.
00:17:25.353 --> 00:17:28.969
And that kept me with forward thinking.
00:17:29.931 --> 00:17:33.546
And that's awesome and, like I said, you definitely have a lot to share here.
00:17:33.546 --> 00:17:38.566
So we're winding down because I want you to tell us about your one dope plan and also what you have planned.
00:17:38.566 --> 00:17:43.575
I know you got something planned as far as everything you're doing, because I've been to one of your women's.
00:17:43.575 --> 00:17:44.115
What is it?
00:17:44.115 --> 00:17:48.728
Women Empowerment yeah, women in Wealth yeah, women in Wealth.
00:17:48.728 --> 00:17:49.470
That's awesome.
00:17:49.470 --> 00:17:50.010
That's awesome.
00:17:50.010 --> 00:17:52.597
We're here in Atlanta, guys, but I don't know, do you do it all over?
00:17:53.925 --> 00:18:00.289
We're doing a networking event in Nashville, so now I'm down in Nashville, st Louis, and then here in Atlanta.
00:18:00.569 --> 00:18:09.290
Okay, let me know when it's here in Atlanta again, but I definitely love meeting those different ladies there.
00:18:09.290 --> 00:18:12.684
So let me ask you something Can you share any tips or advice for managing the side effects of breast cancer treatment?
00:18:13.404 --> 00:18:13.726
Yeah.
00:18:13.726 --> 00:18:16.794
So I think the biggest thing is to work with your doctor.
00:18:16.794 --> 00:18:19.587
I always tell people to get clearance from your doctor.
00:18:19.587 --> 00:18:22.856
For me, the health educator came back.
00:18:22.856 --> 00:18:29.898
So things that I've known from research, seen firsthand, a lot of it is diet and exercise.
00:18:30.847 --> 00:18:40.999
Cancer loves sugar, Cancer loves estrogen and that's why, with our nonprofit, our focus is now going to be more on number one, supporting women with our Hero Box.
00:18:40.999 --> 00:18:45.458
So we have our Pink Pearl Hero box that also supports women in business.
00:18:45.458 --> 00:18:51.436
So we're supporting women entrepreneurs and then women who are and men who are actually going through breast cancer.
00:18:51.436 --> 00:19:06.098
But also now we're looking at the component of post-cancer care because it's you know, it dawned on me as I'm growing through that part of my journey is when I was in the midst of cancer, you could not put sugar around me.
00:19:06.098 --> 00:19:15.458
It was black coffee, no sugars, Don't put a sprinkle of nothing on my because I was just so paranoid about the cancer feeding off of the sugar.
00:19:15.458 --> 00:19:20.797
But then, after everything was done, I started adding sugar back.
00:19:20.797 --> 00:19:25.296
But one of the things that we know is my body can have cancer.
00:19:25.884 --> 00:19:28.694
So, now I got to turn it into a fighting machine.
00:19:28.694 --> 00:19:41.105
Post-cancer care still diet, so if you can get a nutritionist, and so these are the things that the nonprofit is looking at is diet, exercise, mindset and other therapies.
00:19:41.105 --> 00:19:52.576
My girlfriend, tammy, owns a wellness oasis here in Woodstock, georgia, so I do the hyperbaric chamber, because cancer does not grow in oxygenated environments.
00:19:52.576 --> 00:20:01.674
So it's like looking at those things, but the problem is a lot of people don't have access to those resources because of cost and insurance doesn't cover it.
00:20:02.205 --> 00:20:04.126
Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned those things.
00:20:04.126 --> 00:20:09.057
I actually wanted a gift certificate from tammy and I still have.
00:20:09.057 --> 00:20:13.817
Oh, you need to go small treatment and I said I said, oh god, I still have to go and do this, but that's good.
00:20:13.817 --> 00:20:19.450
But I'm glad you said that because, uh, and you said everything that I was going to ask you any about, such as diet, exercise and even meditation.
00:20:19.450 --> 00:20:21.894
Yeah, it's beneficial during your treatment.
00:20:21.894 --> 00:20:25.128
And when you say sugar, I got to add that that's one of the problems.
00:20:25.128 --> 00:20:25.952
I got to give up.
00:20:25.952 --> 00:20:27.211
I love my sweets and stuff.
00:20:27.211 --> 00:20:37.952
The last question then we're going to get into your one dope and then your nonprofit what advice do you have for those who have completed their treatment and are transitioning back to everyday life?
00:20:38.734 --> 00:20:53.634
Yeah, I think the biggest thing for me once that happened and I talked to a couple of my pink sisters about it it was because you're in that moment of treatments and surgeries and healing and all that and when it's done, it's oh, now what do I do?
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