Interested in starting your own journey in health and wellness but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Jen Miramontes, founder of Cancer Champions, located in Davis, CA, USA.
What's your organization, and who are your members?
Cancer Champions is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that is dedicated to supporting cancer survivors by providing nutrition, fitness, and mindset guidance tailored to the unique needs of those battling cancer. We offer membership grants to help offset the high costs of cancer care as they relate to nutrition and fitness, which are important and complementary health components to traditional care, such as chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery. The fitness component of Cancer Champions is designed by a Cancer Exercise Specialist (one of only about 500 in the world), and all of our recipes and meal plans are designed by a Certified Nutrition Consultant, both of whom have been working with cancer patients for over 15 years. Our members are cancer survivors, as well as those currently undergoing cancer treatment.
Tell us about yourself
I began formulating the idea for Cancer Champions over 20 years ago when my mother was diagnosed with esophageal cancer. One of the last things she wanted to do was to hike in and out of the Grand Canyon, and as a lifelong fitness enthusiast and someone who had worked in fitness since the age of 17, I began designing a training program to help build up her strength for the trip. Not long after a successful hike, my mother passed away in her sleep, but she was able to live out her life on her terms thanks to the role fitness and proper nutrition played. Much earlier in my life, my father passed away suddenly. We later learned that it was cancer that took him as well, far too early. He was another important source of information for the future of Cancer Champions.
Fast-forward a few years to the day I met Ann Murray Paige, a fellow New Englander living in California. We recognized each other's Boston accents and instantly bonded. After Ann began training with me at my fitness studio, she was eventually rediagnosed with metastatic breast cancer, which had been in remission for a few years after her first battle. Ann fought bravely and never gave up, even speaking at events across the country about her story and the importance of resources for cancer patients, but eventually, she left us far too soon. Before she passed, Ann tasked me with bringing my expertise in fitness as it relates to cancer to more people, as she could attest to the importance of fitness and nutrition for the health and wellness of cancer patients. I had to figure out a way to meet Ann's request while only having so many hours in the day, and this was when I really began contemplating exactly how to reach more people afflicted with cancer to be able to help them live happier and healthier. My dear friend (and expert nutritionist) Damian Bramer was also a vital part of Ann's battle, and she carefully crafted every recipe we have (close to 400) to incorporate cancer-fighting ingredients, avoid harmful ingredients, and be delicious and nutritious.
What motivates me every day is the impact that Cancer Champions has on the quality of life of cancer survivors. When I hear from our members that they feel happier and healthier and are able to get back to doing the things that cancer took away from them, I know that I have found my calling.
What's your biggest accomplishment as an organization?
My biggest accomplishment is the positive impact that I can have on the lives and well-being of those battling cancer. Through Cancer Champions, I am able to help survivors exercise safely, eat better, and improve their quality of life, and I have seen the amazing results those actions can have. As we grow and work with more and more medical groups and oncologists, that impact will grow exponentially.
What's one of the hardest things that comes with being an organization?
The hardest part of running a business or non-profit can often be the financial aspect. Bringing in funding to support a non-profit team, no matter how small, can be difficult. Because of the amount of work Cancer Champions do, we pay our small team well, but the ongoing expenses can be hard to keep up with when we are reliant on outside funding and donations. Getting grant money is difficult, time-consuming, and generally an unreliable source of income for the organization. There are only so many times you can ask your community for donations. Keeping everything running smoothly for our members is a top priority, but it certainly isn't always easy.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow an organization today?
- Having a good business plan is crucial, even for nonprofits. Without a plan as to how you are going to bring in customers or funding, you will end up looking all over the place. Being prepared with a good plan, and having done the research for whatever it is you're pursuing, is critical to achieving success.
- Make sure you know your strengths and weaknesses. If you don't know what they are, there are resources you can find online to help you identify them, but your best resource may be to ask those close to you. You need to have people that can be straightforward with you, and you will need to be receptive to constructive criticism in order to identify weaknesses and work on improving them.
- Find the right team. This also means your support team because if you are going to lead a business or nonprofit organization, you need to be able to delegate and know that tasks are done, work is completed, and goals are accomplished without you handholding or overseeing every little detail. Ideally, your team will have complementary strengths so that any areas that are lacking from one person can be covered by somebody else. If you're not a social media expert, having somebody else that can handle that is going to be a big relief to you, trust me! If your nonprofit organization is big enough to have somebody on staff that handles fundraising, great, but if not, a team that works well together is in a much better place than a disorganized team that can't handle the workload and misses deadlines.
Where can people find you and your group?
Website: https://cancerchampions.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cancerchampionsorg
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cancerchampionsorg/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cancer-champions/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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