Fighting Pretty on TODAY

Let's face it - October (breast cancer awareness month, also known as "Pinktober") is always the busiest month of the year for us. We knew it would be big, bold, and filled with hope. And just when we thought our biggest event of the month would be our first gala, I received a Facebook message from an old friend asking if we wanted to turn the plaza pink on Today Show to kick off the month!

Immediately, I said "yes!" not knowing how on earth we were going to make this happen! In just a few weeks, we had promised to develop 400 Pretty Packages, get over 100 volunteers and donate to several cancer centers in the NY area. This effort was a true testament showing how many people we had supporting Fighting Pretty.

We bussed in friends and family members from my hometown in Pompton Plains, NJ.

We had people flying in from Portland, Chicago and Tampa!

We had donors coming out of the woodwork to donate product for these packages.

And when we arrived, the entire Today Show staff was so excited we were there.

We were taking over Rockefeller Center and letting the world know how to help women battling cancer feel strong and beautiful.

We made 400 Pretty Packages for women battling cancer. And gave them away to 3 cancer centers in the metropolitan area.

We talked to women and men on the street about Fighting Pretty.

We impacted the world the day.

It was epic.

Hoda Ktob and Savannah Guthrie – the two ladies I hang out with every morning in my apartment (I literally watch the Today Show every day) hugged me and told me that they not only loved my sequin pink skirt, but that Fighting Pretty was so important – and amazing! And you know what? They’re right.

Carson Daly, Al Roker, and other guests Joel Osteen, Tiffani Theisen and Rita Wilson got in with our volunteers and made Pretty Packages and wrote notes to the patients receiving them. Together, we were sending strength.

Everyone kept asking me how I stayed so calm. The reason why? Because I was on a mission to tell the world we are here to help. Cancer doesn’t discriminate. Cancer doesn’t care if you are famous, beautiful, fat, skinny, married, divorced or pregnant. And the women all over the world watching the Today Show that day needed to be reminded that they had a support system behind them. They needed to know that Fighting Pretty is here to help them feel strong and beautiful.

Someone once told me that the beauty of Fighting Pretty is that we are all in this together. And it’s so true. So send a Pretty Package to someone you know battling cancer – and remind her that she is strong, she is beautiful and she is Fighting Pretty.

Special thanks to:

Today Show staff

Allison Starkey

Julep

Mary Kay

Miami Deco

Michael Anthony

Survivor Eyes

Wildfire Magazine

Volunteers