Spotlight New Jersey: Hunger Free Unity in the Community

Spotlight New Jersey: Beyond The Boogie Dance Company in Montclair

Spotlight New Jersey: Town Clock Community Development Corp.

Spotlight New Jersey: Middlesex Regional Black Nurses Association

Spotlight New Jersey: Work Hard Dress Right in Newark

Spotlight New Jersey: Professional skateboarder and graphic designer Judi Oyama

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News 12 Staff

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The co founders of the breasty are my guests here on spotlight New Jersey. Ali Brumel and Brianna Machek. You had a thought you were sharing with us at the end of the first segment. Yeah. So the reason it's so important to us to be an all inclusive community is because us ourselves have benefit so much from that inclusivity of a inclusive space. Um For example, I was processing um my high risk, not really thinking about the grief of my mom, but so much of that was wrapped up in my journey and my experience. And it was really our first retreat that we did um where it happened to just be a bunch of young moms who were on that retreat, whose greatest fear was not being around for their Children one day who were um navigating a diagnosis. And there I was um you know, living without my mom and navigating high risk. And we had gained so much from each other. And it was like one of the most heartfelt experiences I've ever had in my life of making this connection that traditionally support spaces, say you shouldn't make those connections. So that was when it really hit me of how important it is to have these spaces. And as the years have gone on, we've just had so many more of those moments that have taught us like we need to all be in the shared spaces because there's so much we're learning um that you, you would have never known and you lost your mom to breast cancer as well for people who are just tuning in. Yes, you talked about a predisposition that wasn't necessarily on the female side, but on the male. Yeah. So I was diagnosed with breast cancer when I was 28 and because I was so young after my diagnosis, it was recommended that I go through genetic testing. And at that point, I, no one in my family had had breast cancer. So we weren't sure what the results would be like. But it turns out I found out I'm a carrier of the BRCA one variant and I got that gene mutation or gene variant from my dad, from my father's side, which a lot of people um don't have a lot of education around that. You know, even if there isn't a line of breast cancer in your family, it's important to dive into what does your family history look like on both sides. Looking at your, both your father and your mother's health and looking at both lines to figure out what your genetics could look like because my gene, my gene variant was passed down from my dad's side. See, and when you told me that, I was surprised to hear that. I didn't know that. Let's talk about the mission of the breasted and what people need to know about what you do and advocate the breast is, as we said is the first all inclusive nonprofit community that brings together people impacted by breast and gyn cancer. And we support our community members through free resources, events and advocacy work. We really believe in the power of coming together as a community and using our collective voices to make changes that directly need to happen for the community to, you know, have improved well being and improved quality of life after a diagnosis or finding out their high risk of cancer. What were the challenges you as young women faced in getting the resources you needed with your breast cancer diagnosis? Um I mean, I feel like we could both produce a laundry list, unfortunately. Um and even even knowing that in the positions that we're in, we're very privileged, we're in the space. We have a lot of education. We've met so many different community members with different stories. Um I myself was very well aware of my mom's story where um as a Latino woman, she wasn't able to get a diagnosis after trying, she wasn't able to get imaging after asking for months. Um And then by the time she was diagnosed, she was metastatic, coming up at noon, Ali and Brianna talk about the challenges they faced as younger women and being taken seriously about even getting checked for breast cancer.

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The co founders of the breasty Ali Bruel and Brianna Msk are my guests here on spotlight New Jersey. We were talking about the fact that you all were diagnosed under the age of 35 and a lot of the time you had to deal with people dismissing you. Yeah, I was 28 when I was diagnosed with breast cancer and I actually found the lump by myself. I had just seen my obgyn for my annual visit and got a clean bill of health and I had ac I had a breast exam at that appointment and the doctor told me I had dense breasts, which is typical for young people and I felt a lump. And so I went back to the doctor and I said, I feel something and she said you're young, you have no family history. It's probably nothing. And I am so fortunate that something in my gut told me, speak up, ask, ask for more testing. It can't hurt to get imaging. And I'm so glad that I did because that lump that was nothing actually turned out to be an aggressive form of breast cancer. Oh my God lie. It's a good thing you were proactive with your own body. Yeah. And you know, that's something that the breast is, is super passionate about is because unfortunately, that's the story from a lot of community members that they were dismissed by their doctors or had to advocate for themselves. And we like to empower our community to know that they are the experts of their own body. Yes, medical experts, medical professionals are there for you, but you are the expert of your own body. So if something's not right, if something is not your normal, it's important to speak up and ask questions. And you were saying that women of color, they worry about being gas lighted when it comes to their diagnosis or dismissed and ignored. Yeah. Um unfortunately, um as we know in the community and and too many people experience is um that women of color are disproportionately affected um by breast cancer, by gynecologic cancer. Um Black women are over 40% more likely to die of breast cancer than their white counterparts. Hispanic women are over 30% more likely to die of breast cancer than their white counterparts. And so knowing that information, we're very passionate about helping education come out. Um but also empowering people to know that you are your own best advocate. And if you don't feel supported in, in a health care setting, it's time to find a new health care provider. Good advice from both young ladies tomorrow. At 6 a.m. Ali and Brianna, talk about the research funded by the breasty.

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The breasty are our guests who are on spotlight New Jersey. Ali Bruel and Brianna Msk are the co founders. I was impressed to hear that you all fund stage four breast cancer research. Tell us about that. Yeah. So we learned um really during inception in 2018, that um the smallest amount of funding goes to stage four breast cancer research, which was heartbreaking to both of us because stage four, breast cancer is the only breast cancer that people die from and advances in research for stage four helps all stages of breast cancer. Um So we knew from an early start that it was important to us to raise money to support this research. And in 2022 we established our first annual $50,000 grant directly going to stage four breast cancer research. And it was completely chosen by the community. Um We work with the mcg mcgee Women's Research Institute. Um And the community helped us select which research project we funded. Um And we are just closing out our second year of um funding another grant. I love the videos that you all sent me of the women who are in them, tell me about the activities that you hold, the fundraisers that you hold and what you do to help women. Yeah, it's really important to us to bring the community together and we truly feel that no one should have to pay for support. And so we host free virtual programs. But in addition to that, we have in person events like camp breasty where we bring together 500 community members all impacted by breast and gynecologic cancer for a weekend to come together and meet others with shared experiences to learn, to get information, to feel empowered and just to enjoy themselves. Um The weekends, a mix of mindfulness and wellness type of activities like yoga classes and workouts, cooking classes, but then also community meet ups um around different topics and you know, areas of need for the community. And it's turned out to be our annual most uh well attended program that people are always most excited about. How long do the camps last? Four days. So they go Thursday to Sunday, but we're constantly getting asked to extend it. So it might even be longer next year. And where are they held? Yeah, we rent out a summer camp. So it's a camp where people sleep together in cabins with a beautiful lake in the outdoors. Um This past year we were in the Catskills. So we're hoping to be in that area again, this June and what reaction do you get from the women who attend? Oh my gosh. It is surreal. It's one just like heartbreaking to be in a space with 500 people impacted by breast and gynecologic cancer. But the, the thing we hear the most is, wow, I belong here and this is for me and that is our biggest goal um to, for people to walk in and see like this is a space for me. Um It's not just the stuffy conference rooms, there's a place that's fun for you to show up as your full self. And in our next segment, Bree and Ali explain a campaign the breasty launched called Pink Washing.

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You are watching a video about pink washing produced by the breasty who are here in studio with me. Tell us all about that. Bree. Um So every October, um I'm sure you've seen that there's a flood of pink ribbons, pink products and the truth is that a lot of that doesn't even go back to support breast cancer. Um And so when we learned that we were devastated and we wanted to do more education around the harm of pink washing. Yeah. So we created a campaign, we brought together 10 community members all impacted by breast cancer in different ways. And we asked some questions about October and Breast Cancer Awareness Month and how they feel when they see pink ribbons and pink products. And it was a beautiful series of interviews that share just the truth about Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Al although there's a lot of good that comes out of this month awareness education fund raising a lot of times. Unfortunately, corporations big brands use breast cancer, use pink as a marketing strategy to sell products. And a lot of times um nothing actually goes back to breast cancer research or the breast cancer community do. A lot of people know that no, which is why we created this campaign. Um It was important for us to get this message out because there's a lot of ways that you can have cause marketing campaigns and do it right. And so we wanted to educate consumers that if you do see a pink product or a pink ribbon to just do your research, find out where is the money going, how much money is actually going back to breast cancer research or breast cancer programs and really dive into what you're supporting because a lot of times the consumer thinks that there's going to be good on the other end of that transaction. But unfortunately, that's not always the case. Are you all constantly researching organizations and products you see out there to see where that money is going? Yeah. Yeah, we are and we, we say no to a lot of partnerships that don't understand um that funds need to go back to support community or research. Um We like to say it's, it's not just a season for selling more products. Um We're impacted by breast cancer all year round. This website offers free products to breast cancer patients. That's breast cancer freebies dot com.

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The nonprofit group supports “survivors, previvors, stage 4 thrivers and caregivers impacted by breast and gynecologic cancers.”

Spotlight New Jersey: The Breasties

The nonprofit group supports “survivors, previvors, stage 4 thrivers and caregivers impacted by breast and gynecologic cancers.”

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