Eradicating the scourge of breast cancer is simply another day at the office for Dr. Leah Gendler. The renowned medical oncologist and breast surgeon spends each of her 14-hour workdays deftly excising tumors in the operating room or counseling breast cancer patients on what should be their next lifesaving move. That’s why we’re honored this Power Figure gave Bare it All so much of her valuable time to share what drives her forward and what gives her hope.
As our Power Figures monthlong series continues, we managed to snag a coveted slot on Bari Seiden-Young’s jam-packed calendar: Bari is the Vice President of Corporate Communications for The Estée Lauder Companies (ELC), and she leads the Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign on behalf of ELC, focusing media attention on annual high-wattage efforts to raise major awareness and funds that fuel life-saving research.
No matter if she’s illuminating the Empire State Building pink with supermodel and global ambassador Elizabeth Hurley or attending a black tie gala, for Bari, every last action she takes comes back to beating cancer. As with Lauren, the survivor, and Pamela, the fundraiser, Bari has an all-too personal cancer connection that drives her, too.
Power Figures take myriad forms. In lockstep with the brave front-line warriors fighting breast cancer—the survivors battling for their lives, supported by their tenacious medical teams—you’ll find driven, impassioned advocates and fundraisers. Count Pamela Lipkin among them.
Though Pamela works full-time at USI Insurance Services as a bond manager, she also devotes herself to organizing events for the Cure Breast Cancer Foundation, for which she serves as a board member.
For Pamela, it’s personal.
The stats about breast cancer are as staggering as they are ubiquitous: 246,660 new cases this year. 1 in every 8 women. More than 2.8 million women in the United States with a history of breast cancer.
Behind the dizzying numbers are flesh-and-blood human beings going to war every day in their own ways against breast cancer. They are Power Figures in every sense of the word: raising awareness at the same time as they are making plans for the rest of their lives. Following our 4-part series last year on the science and politics of Breast Cancer Awareness Month with medical correspondent Dr. Sharon Mass, this year, we’re honored to introduce you to four of them. Taken together, they’re profiles in courage, in caring, in the conviction that we can and will turn this tide.
Meet Lauren Cohen who, at 33, is already a breast cancer survivor. She graciously opened up to Bare it All about her path from blindsiding diagnosis to the new normal.
To many of us, summer camp is child’s play. Ali Leipzig, 29 (top left), and Michelle Goldblum, 32 (top right), beg to differ. That’s why they founded their own sleepaway camp for grown-ups in 2014.
With outposts in New York and California, Soul Camp is an all-inclusive wellness retreat where up to 300 campers—65% of them women—say see ya to their families, routines and smartphones for four days. The trade-off: access to dozens of workshops, classes and seminars (everything from stand-up paddleboarding to essential oils 101) aimed at nourishing body, mind and spirit.
When life is a treadmill going a million miles a minute, it’s liberating to know you can press pause to reconnect with the things that stoke your inner (camp)fire. As it turns out, more often than not, those things tend to be simple pleasures like strolling down a country road, losing track of time floating on a placid lake or talking for hours with a new friend. Often, the best thing you can do as an adult is to remember what it’s like to be a kid again.
At Bare Necessities, we’re in the business of supporting women en route every day to their most authentic selves. Some days, that means putting on your big girl panties and daring to do things differently. That’s why we think Ali and Michelle are such Power Figures—through Soul Camp, they’re uplifting women in their own way.
In time for Labor Day, we talked to Michelle and Ali about how they arrived at their aha moment, made it happen, found freedom as their own bosses and continue being besties while (gasp!) mixing business and pleasure.
We first met Alissa Wilson at Bare Necessities back in February when she stopped by to cover the launch of Ashley Graham’s lingerie collection, and we were instantly smitten kittens. Undaunted by the slush and cold, she turned up in red suede heels and leather pants. Personal style? Check. Knowing thyself? Check. Confidence, chutzpah and charisma? Triple-check.
Alissa is the founding editor and editor-in-chief of Stylish Curves, a blog that aims every day to “bridge the gap between straight and plus sizes by showing plus-size curvy women that they can dress just a fabulous as straight-size women do. We live in a world that wants plus-size women to be unhappy with their bodies, and Stylish Curves believes that every woman should learn to appreciate and love their bodies no matter their size.” Um, yes.
Alissa always dreamed of a career as a fashion writer and, as a plus-size woman, she knows how hard it can be for anyone north of a size 14 to find chic clothing. Initially, she started the blog as a shopping resource to help others see where they could get the latest trends and celebrity styles in their size. “I’m happy with my body,” she has said. “It’s others who are not.” With a background in finance and retail, she’s uniquely positioned to make heads or tails of the fashion industry which, at times, can be confoundingly slow to stay in step with reality. That’s why she’s worked on branding campaigns with JCPenney and gotten noticed by Essence, Glamour…and Bare Necessities.
It’s only fitting that we have a July 4th tête-à-tête with someone in possession of a fierce independent streak, an indomitable spirit and an iron will.
That would be Becky Burt.
At 30, she’s created a surf school for girls, run exclusively by women, on the East coast where surfer girls are something of a rarity—and she did it after suffering a debilitating injury that threatened not only the new venture but life as she knew it.
In this month’s edition of Power Figures, our exclusive interviews with some exceptionally self-actualized ladies, we’re visiting with Sara Sugarman Brenner. At 29, she conjured up Lulu & Georgia, her own cool-and-contemporary-meets-rationally-priced home décor company. Though young, make no mistake: She’s already learned a few thousand things about striking out on one’s own, delegating like a #boss, balancing without breaking, and redefining what it means to be a successful female CEO this century—oh, and she does it all in 5″ heels.
Welcome back to Power Figures, our series profiling ladies at the top of their game who are kindly enlightening us as they ascend. This month, we had too much fun chatting with Alyssa Hertzig, a beauty editor at some of the world’s top magazines who recently had the vision and courage to leave the world of glossies for a turn as a full-time lifestyle blogger and freelance writer.
The Sparkly Life follows her passions both professional (your new source for beauty reccos from someone who knows a BB cream from a CC cream) and personal (scientifically proven fact: no one throws a Pinterest-worthy party like Alyssa), candid (fair warning, grab a tissue before reading “The 3 AM Struggle is Real”) and chic as all get-out. She’s equal parts aspirational and attainable: a “cool” mom, a thinker of deep thoughts yet a self-proclaimed fluff junkie. She optimistically makes the daily juggle look damn good, one bouncy hair blowout at a time, and for that, we salute her.
(Have a suggestion for Power Figures? Email blog@barenecessities.com to nominate someone.) Without further ado, meet Alyssa…
It’s true that like attracts like: Our mission at Bare Necessities is to lift women up, and lately we’ve been noticing that we’re coming across a whole lot of inspiring ladies.
That’s why we’re so excited to launch Power Figures, a new column dedicated to meeting awesome women in different fields who share one thing in common: Every day, they’re out there tirelessly hustling to make things happen. Whatever they’re doing, they’re doing it on their terms. They’re reimagining the status quo, leaning in, starting meaningful conversations even when it’s hard or unpleasant or easier not to, and they’re uplifting us all as they go. We hope their wise words help carry you through your day. (Have a suggestion for us? Email blog@barenecessities.com to nominate someone.)
We’re kicking things off with the incredible….
Ashley Graham—designer, model, body activist, disruptor of the status quo—and Bare Necessities have something in common: We’re both preoccupied with lifting women up. To celebrate today’s debut of her lingerie line, we sat down with her for an exclusive Q&A at our headquarters with BN staffers and plus-size style bloggers.
Since Ashley was discovered at age 12 in a mall in her native Nebraska, she’s been working nonstop to shake up the notoriously intractable fashion world. The proof is in the press: This year alone, Ashley simultaneously joined and forever altered the ranks of Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue cover models, and Forbes magazine named her a “30 Under 30.”
“My mom and dad told me, ‘If you try it, you have to stick with it,’” says Ashley, and those words drove her. At 17, Ashley moved to New York by herself. “I gained my freshman 15…more like 30. I was still working, I was still fabulous, but I had agents literally waving money in my face saying, ‘if you lost some more LBs, baby, you’d get a lot more of this.’ In that moment I realized, ‘Why am I modeling? What is this for?’” She knew she had to blaze her own trail, but something was holding her back: