CEO and Founder, Making a Difference
I had the incredible privilege of photographing Jamil Rivers, CEO and Founder of The Chrysalis Initiative, (thechrysalisinitiative.org or bcnavi.com), the breast cancer organization working to eliminate disparities in medical treatment for Black women and other disparate groups.
“The Chrysalis Initiative started itself,” Jamil shared. In 2018, Jamil was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer, (stage four).
“I made a decision to keep working during my treatment because I didn’t want to lose my job over being ill. So, I worked my chemo treatments out around my work day. When my hair began to fall out, my husband helped me shave it off. I found a wig that looked like my hair put it on and kept going like nothing was wrong.”
“For the first 25 years of my career, I worked in finance, contracts and compliance. But that changed after my diagnosis and treatment.”
During her own cancer treatment, “Other women started popping into my chemo room. They wanted to connect with me. They said, ‘Hey I hear you are still working.’ They felt that if I was doing okay and had things figured out, maybe they could learn from me.”
“Women were drawn to me. At that time, I was just a woman with cancer getting treatment, but I saw the need. A year later I started it, but the movement had begun, The Chrysalis Initiative birthed itself.”
“What was going to be The Chrysalis Initiative’s niche, had to be more than just giving patients information and then leaving them on their own. Other organizations that provide social support and information are helpful, but we wanted a way to ensure a patient is given the same standard of care and the same chance at suitable outcomes as white patients. So, we began a coaching and mentoring program.
“We’ve trained 150 patient coaches so far. Each patient that comes to us through our websites, our speaking engagements or referrals through cancer centers is connected to a coach for their care.
“Coaches supply patients with the knowledge of the standards of care connecting with patients through role-play and revealing to them what the standards are. We tell patients, ‘You should be receiving this and this.’ Coaches are able to see blind spots and resolve issues faster for the patient. Our goal is to hold health systems accountable.”
“Coaches go with the patient to appointments if they’d like. We meet patients where they are. We take them by the hand and walk with them through their entire cancer journey.”
“The Chrysalis Initiative (TCI), is connected to hospitals throughout the country and all of the national cancer institutions supporting those patients.
“We have put 20,000 women through the program so far.”
“Statistically, while Black women have a lower occurrence of breast cancer compared to other diseases, they have a 42% higher fatality rate than their white counterparts. The assumption is that the disparity is income or poverty-related but Black women with high incomes and suitable insurance actually have more disparities. We know that it is related to race-based bias in the healthcare system.
“Seeing that, we began a training program for healthcare providers Unconscious Bias Training to teach them about their unconscious biases and to support them in removing those biases. Currently, 2158 healthcare providers have gone through the program.
Jamil Rivers is an amazing example of bravery in action. Since her diagnosis, cancer journey and founding of TCI, she stays on the move.
“We collaborate on conferences with systems that want to collaborate with us. My speaking engagements keep me busy.
With her remarkable resiliency and determination, Jamil encourages others to,
“Never underestimate yourself. You’ll be amazed at what you can accomplish. If you have a dream or goal, don’t think it’s too crazy.
If you can envision it--if you can see, it can happen! Try to ignore the naysayers in your head.
What you begin may really be transformative and impact the lives of other people. Your idea could be that thing. What do you have to lose?
As far as my personal experience, although I had cancer spread through my body, I’m glad to say I’ve reached no evidence of disease. But once you have it you always have to pay attention.”
“I get my full body scans every three months, bone scans every six months and a brain scan once a year.
“Tomorrow is not promised to any of us but when living with an illness like cancer, I would say to anyone cherish every moment and every person. It’s very clarifying to have a cancer diagnosis. It changes how you spend your time.
“I was motivated to get new headshots because my marketing team was saying my headshots were old. I really appreciate Alissa. My new headshots show off my personality. She did an amazing job capturing that. I now have a variety to use now for different purposes. My headshots came out great!
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To find out more about the incredible work that Jamil and The Chrysalis Initiative are doing, go to http://thechrysalisinitiative.org/. (As a reminder, TCI is a non-profit so it does have a location where people can donate.)
Their app is http://bcnavi.com (Breast Cancer Navigation).