Her Story
About Susan
I am the Executive Director of Cancer Schmancer, a position I've held since the foundation's inception in 2007. My journey to this role was completely organic - my first and second careers had nothing to do with how I ended up here. After a divorce in 2005, I left my career as a producer and took time to reinvent myself. I started spending time with a dear friend I've known since I was young, a cancer survivor, on her deck overlooking the ocean. I've always been a health advocate and raised my daughters with a very organic and toxic-free lifestyle, having lost very close people to that hideous disease. When my friend wrote her book about her healing journey, she knew she had a loud voice as a celebrity and needed to use it for the greater good. She asked if I would produce the very first luncheon for her new 501c3, and I volunteered. I've never looked back. We built a global foundation around education, early detection, and prevention on not just cancer, but disease itself. I'm known as the go-to in my community when anyone hears the word cancer, blessed to have a board that surrounds me with the most cutting-edge, amazing doctors in every field. I navigate patients through the healthcare system to be their own advocates, and I partner with two big mobile mammography vans on both East and West Coast to make sure women that are underprivileged and uninsured get free screenings. We produce globally livestreamed Masterclass health summits every October, focusing each year on a different part of the body or health issue - cancer, disease, autoimmune, mental illness, pediatric, anti-aging. All 11 of our annual health summits live on our website in our video library. I'm constantly meeting with leading research, leading scientists, leading chemists, and leading doctors. In 2027, I'm launching our youth program to teach children how to live healthier lifestyles and teach their families through the education system and organizations like the Boys and Girls Club and the YMCA.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Susan
01What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Never give up. Create calls to action that are passionate for you and what's timely in the world, because so many people donate to so many causes - so many donors have more than one philanthropic passion, so there's a lot of people competing for support. I really try to stay unique in the nonprofit health space with a call to action. So, really, my advice is to start small and very grassroots, and make sure that people know exactly where their money's going.
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