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So welcome to the good community, where Nonprofit Professionals, philanthropist, world changers and rabid fans who are striving to bring a little more goodness into the world.
So let's get started. Becky, I'm so pumped right now.
You know, I'm smiling. We're talking about women today, we're talking about women's health. Yeah, we're gonna throw in some board and all kinds of other stuff in there. But at the core, we're talking about women. So I'm excited.
We are and we're talking about a topic that impacts all of this. And I mean, I want to start with this humbling stat that's not going to surprise anybody because of just the reality of cancer in our world today. Every 90 seconds someone's diagnosed with breast cancer, and one in eight women born in the U.S. today are going to develop breast cancer at some point during their lives. You know, we've had conversations about how cancer diagnosis in the family can completely changed the trajectory of our life. And we've talked to someone like Nancy Brinker, who it did change how she poured into her work. And I feel like we've got another person in our midst today. That is a titan just like that. We're talking to Heather Salazar. She's the CEO of Pink Ribbon. Good. And I mean, she is really connecting the dots. Because as we all know, somebody affected by cancer, what do we really need, I mean, we have the medical piece, but we also need the creature comforts, but just help with everyday task. And that's where Pink Ribbon Good really comes in. And so Heather's story, I'm not going to spoil it today friends, because I want her to take that. But their Northstar is to make sure that no one travels this road alone. And what started in Ohio now has locations in St. Louis and San Francisco Bay and ended there, Heather's leadership, she's gonna go to take this national in the next few years. And we're just here to talk all things with Heather is a delight to have you in our house, my friend, welcome to the We Are For Good podcast.
Oh, I'm so happy to be here and just listening to the podcast you've had before. It's just exciting to be even offered the opportunity.
Oh, my gosh, well, it's a huge honor to us. And so it's not gonna be a surprise that we want to start getting to know Heather at the beginning of today's show. So I wonder if you would take us back, take us back to growing up at some of the formative experiences and take us into your story too, that led to this founding.
Well, so if you ask to start when I when I grew up, I was super passionate about inner city. And so when I was 14, or 15, I was able to start a reading program for inner city kids. And I loved those kids, like they were my own, I would go into their neighborhoods. And the goal was to keep them reading in the summer so they would could be successful at school. So the running joke is when I talk at places, I always say I thought I was going to solve generational poverty. Like I really believed I could do it. And, you know, breast cancer wasn't in my realm of things at all. I got married super young, I didn't plan on getting married until I was 30. I had these big dreams, right. I was gonna live in New York City. I worked at the Bowery when I was an intern and SOHO and I was like going to I had so many things to do at 30 years old directly on the dot. I was going to get married and start having kids like I knew it. Like it was planned out.
Solid plan. As type A, I can totally identify with this.
Right? It was like I had things to do hilarious. But right before I was leaving for college in the summer, it was still in high school. I was going dancing at a teen Club, where you were allowed to go if you were under 18. And I had to go eat tacos before I left because you couldn't afford the food actually in the club, you know, so. my now husband was going through the drive thru at Taco Bell and picked me up at Taco Bell.
Oh my gosh, these are the stories. This is why you asked this question because we need I mean, as this happens.
So he went into the military. I chased him. We got married at 19. We've been married 30 years, how crazy. We ended up having a baby pretty young. I got married at 19. And we had our first one right before I was turned into like at the end of my 21st year and I was mad about it. At first I was like what am in school 20 credit hours. How did this happen? You know, whatever. And I just always wanted a lot of kids. And I say that because as you find out later in my story. I had breast cancer at 31. So how crazy you know how things work out. So we came home from the military. He got all of his schooling and training and we came home to raise our kids near my family. And we'd been home a few years had three small children and my mom's neighbor is a midwife who had delivered this baby. And she was looking for a home for this eight month old perfectly healthy baby girl and her mom was dying of stage four breast cancer. She was 23 years old at the time. She was raised in foster care. She rode home from her bilateral mastectomy on the bus, with a bus token and drains hanging out. So I thought about it. I called some people struggling with infertility. You know, we had three small kids. I mean, our youngest was 15 months, I could not sleep. And so finally after three days, I couldn't sleep and my husband's like, What the heck is wrong with you? You're up all night, whatever. And I'm like, I can't stop thinking about this young mom. She's like, in and out of her car, Steve, she doesn't have groceries and she has a baby and she's sick. And I was like, can we just meet her, you know, just for groceries, just for groceries. We'll just help her out for groceries. So she gets off the bus and I'm assuming it's her. She has a black miniskirt on this cute black shirt, and this neon pink wig. And she's walking. She's walking with authority. And I'm like, Oh, she's gonna want to give me a hug. I can't wait to give her a hug. I've been talking to her for two weeks. You guys. She walked directly past me like I wasn't even there and walked straight up to my husband and looked him straight in the face. And she said, I need help with my baby. I'm sick. And I want her to have a better life than I had. And that was it. His heart melted in a puddle. We went in, we bought her some groceries. We got an attorney. Five weeks later, we had full legal custody of Alexi, she moved in with us. And we spent the next year taking care of her mom taking her to treatment mind you I'm not Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous so I'm schlepping four kids in the chemo room. Then we drop her off, then we go to the park, then we come back and pick her up. She was so happy you guys because she had gone to treatment alone the whole time. The adversity someone faces that's underinsured is something like I had never seen before. And so for the next year, we kind of we just took her to treatment. And she passed away a little bit after she turned 24. And you guys even in the work I do and the stuff we deal with. It's still the hardest thing I've ever seen in my life. She gave me the biggest gift ever, both in Lexi. And the fact that right before she died like she was like in the last three days. The last few words she said to me were like, make sure young people do self breast exams, Heather they can die of breast cancer. And I did the first my first ever self breast exam and she was 18 months had been had been passed away. And I found a lump and I wasn't worried because I thought I was invincible and I thought there is no way that I'm going to have a baby, adopt another baby. Watch this person dying of breast cancer like I wasn't worried. And I found I found this hard lump. I mean it was ultrasound biopsy. Three days later, I was diagnosed with the exact same kind of aggressive breast cancer as Lexi's mom. I was so angry. So angry, I was scared. I was terrified. My kids just watched this. They were gonna watch me die. Lexi was going to lose two moms to breast cancer before she went to kindergarten. And so for the next few few weeks, I went to every single doctor you can imagine I went to treatment at Ohio State, which is about 45 minutes from where I live, but they were doing a clinical trial for this drug called Herceptin that wasn't available yet that for early stage cancers. You know, I met this amazing person in treatment. And her name was Stephanie Spielman. And I didn't know who she was, her husband was in the NFL, big Ohio State guy stopped and was on Oprah to when Stephanie got breast cancer to raise money for this kind of aggressive breast cancer at this point, Stephanie is stage for because she didn't get this drug that like we all need it called Herceptin. So we become these fast friends, our kids sit there and watch TV while we get poisoned. We say we become on the same treatment schedule, right? Well, I get done with treatment, and she's on treatment forever. But we still meet at least quarterly three to four times a year, bring the kids to play and we're always in touch. So about five years after I was diagnosed, she started getting a lot worse. And her husband was inducted into that Hall of Fame at Ohio State and she walked out there mind you supermodel right like super model. And she's out there, her heads this big from brain metastases. She's on a wheelchair to prove to you that breast cancer isn't pretty whatever. And we would always talk about how, when we both got better. She would she would do research. And I would I would write a program for the care side of things. So I saw her the next week for the last time and she was in her house and she was only coherent for about 60 seconds. And she said, held my hand and she said don't don't use my death as an excuse. You know your purpose. And I cried the entire way home from Columbus, like had to pull over and cried. And I wrote a grant begrudgingly, because I was like checking it off my list. I have to do this to honor Stephanie. I'm going to write this grant. We're never going to get it. We have no money, no proven success. And you don't get grants in foundations unless you have proven success and sustainability. We have $2,000 in a pipe dream, basically. And so I just didn't think another thing of it. And then I'm speaking at a university about young women doing self breast exams. As I get back to the car. I have a Blackberry. It's 2012 I remember this because it wasn't super easy to text 31 text messages from the Ellen DeGeneres show from that they announced on that Ellen DeGeneres Show that Pink Ribbon, PRG received the grant for $45,000 that it was a billionaire out of Texas. I thought it was spam. His website looked so bad.
Even billionaires need good marketing, we get it.
Yeah. And I'm like, oh, but I'm fulfilling, I'm promise. I'm fulfilling my promise to Steph. And it was for $45,000 and in it, there was a little tiny mustard seed. And it's literally said, I believe in pipe dreams. Like he was a total businessman he had, he had a foundation because he needed to put money from oil, right? Like he didn't he wasn't the normal foundation, like, prove this. I mean, it was a paragraph this long. When you think about the grants, I have to write we write today, it was a paragraph this big. So anyways, I was like, Oh, my gosh, now what are we going to do, I sort of just pulled $100,000 budget out of the air. And now we have to find somebody to make the meals. So we wrote the program for three meals a week for your entire family, house cleaning, rides to treatment and peer support. And we said that we would succinct them, if you were early stage cancer, we would do two to three months of treatment. If you were late stage cancer, we would do six to nine months worth of these services. And you could tailor the service to yourself. So that's how we started.
I mean, I'm trying to figure out what a transition would be to actually get into this conversation because that is such a wild story. Heather, I mean that
I know.
Wild. And I think one of the one of the things that does not shock me any longer in our work is how often these stories of nudges and and just unbelievable things sync up. You can call it divine. You can call it cosmic, you can call it coincidence. But there are so many stories like this in nonprofit where an opportunity is presented and the shocking is presented in front of us. The impossible is presented in front of us. And there are those individuals who somehow can take that moment like you Heather you take it in, and you're like No, I'm going to take this moment that was passed to me. And I'm going to make something out of it. And when I take a step back, and I see what you have done. I mean Pink Ribbon Good is such a dynamic and massive organization that is spun from this woman getting off of a bus at 23 years old with pipes coming out of her and a newborn. And to me it's a collective of women and families stepping forward saying no more. And saying we've got to wrap community in this. And so what an incredible story. Lucky all of us that you stepped forward and seize that moment. I can tell you this is a very personal conversation, because I have a very dear friend about to go through her last chemo for breast cancer next week. Love you, Amy. And so I just want to talk about how does one with four small children who is going through breast cancer treatment began to build an organization? What did you learn about building a board, maintaining a team and just getting that initial bench of support behind you? I'd love to start there.
Great. So first of all, I do want to go back to Alexis really quick. So Lexi's moms named Alexis. And I do think about one thing you've said earlier, like think about how hard it is when you have support life, baby cancer, everything. And I just want to give credit to her like, I don't know, I mean, think about this, like she walked into a courtroom with no support and said, I need to find a home for my baby because so she wanted what was best for her. Even though I don't know if I would have wanted to do that. As a mom, I would have wanted to believe I could get better. Or I wouldn't have wanted to believe you know, all of this. And she put all of that aside for this baby who by the way is just turned 22 Anyways. Yes, she's pretty much in California playing soccer. She didn't get that from me. So anyways, she. So what I want to say is, it didn't start right after I was done with treatment, I was mad. So if you look at it, I'm going to be in March this year, I'll be 19 years cancer free. How crazy? I'm gonna be 50 I never thought I would live to see 50. PRG is you know, 11 years old. So it's not like I was like, boom, let's go. It was with Stephanie's death is when I start is when I felt so incredibly convicted. And I didn't think about building a team if I'm being brutally honest. I thought about I go babe, I think I'm going to start this and I don't want you to have any high hopes to my husband. I'm going to work 10 hours a week. I can't be working a lot because what if I die? What if I die? I got things to do. I'm going to work 10 hours a week and I'm going to know every Single mom and their kids that we serve. That's my whole goal. That was my goal. So after four months, and we had 400 meals that we were delivering in Costco bags, and they were falling out before we got to the people's houses, I called my husband and I was like, I think I'm gonna have to quit. The meals are spoiling. I don't know. Then it was just like, I took a pause. He sent me these, he surprised me with these strawberries that I love from New York City. And they came to our house, which he's not like that he doesn't do that a lot. He's awesome. But he doesn't like certain things. And literally, I was like, Oh, my God, they are frozen. And they came from New York City, we have to ship the meals. So we paused for two weeks, on meals, then we started shipping vegetarian meals, because you can ship vegetarian meals without a license. Then we got the license for the meat. And then we just started shipping. So we're calling UPS and I'm negotiating all these prices and the meals are exploding in people's houses because we don't have the proper whatever. I mean, we know nothing, right? The other thing is driving patients. So I wanted every single person to know the person that was driving them. So they would live 40 miles away and go to the research hospital. And how do you get them there? And I met with a couple of other bigger nonprofits that were in my realm. And they're like, you're never going to be able to do this. Like you can't, it doesn't make sense. And I just looked at them. And I said, Lexi's Mom, road at home on a bus. So I'm not quitting on this. And there was like, no Uber, like, we were literally like spending hundreds of dollars to drive people places. From the beginning. The biggest thing that happened is after I bought the 45,000, I went to a local philanthropist who I did not know, and she is my hero. I met her in the coffee shop, I begged five people because I knew she had a lot of money. And she lived in my town. And she met me there and she's 80 and her name was Pat Robertson. And I pitched it to her. And then I look at her and I say I need $45,000. And she's like, Oh, she's like 411 Can you not 411? Heather, typically when I don't know a foundation, and they haven't done anything, I started out around 5,000. And then we grow from there. And I said, Pat, I don't know eight other people that I have to ask $5,000 for, and people are dying of cancer. And I just need you to give me the money. And I promise you I will not let you down. And she was like, I feel like you're not going to let me say no. And I'm like, I promise you I will be good on it. And she's like my grandma. Now I see her all the time. She's 91. And she said, Okay, she goes, but you have to promise me two things. And I said, Okay, you will go stomp in everybody's office in Dayton, who is running a huge organization. And they are going to be too qualified to be on your board. And you're going to beg them because you're going to need them for where you're going. And you need to surround yourself by doers, donors and door openers. So I left and she gave me the 45,000. And that's how we started.
Okay, Pat, I need like a T shirt and a mug forever. This is so good. Okay, I want to transition because your founding story, obviously you were just starting with what you have, and you want to do it all. But you now have transitioned. I mean, you're taking this nonprofit national, you had to get organized. I feel like Pat is in this mode of coach that you need people around this. Walk us through how did you start to build and activate we talked about activating our rabid fans, we talked about building believers instead of donors. How did you functionally do that? And what were the next steps.
So I just went to every place. So I knew that the CEO of Children's was a breast cancer survivor. And I knew she cared a lot about the community. And her secretary did it didn't necessarily give me a meeting. So I just showed up and waited outside. And I was like, I told all of these really busy people, my budgets $100,000. You guys, this is going to take you four. This is the running joke. Now. Because we grew so fast. This is going to take you four hours a year, we just need to have four meetings, your names are going to help me. I'm barely going to work 10 hours a week. I just want to be able to help these people right here.
This is the great lie of nonprofit what founders always tell themselves we get it. Like
Oh, 100% She said, Yes, I'll do it. Then I went to the CEO of all the YMCA same thing. So the other greatest thing that Pat told me, which was surround yourself with the people that are absolutely strongest non yes people in your weakness. So for me, guess what that was? Reading a P&L? What even was the P&L Right? I mean, seriously. And accounting for all of that I had to take a class I would like if you give me let me speak in front of 10,000 people. I'm not nervous. Make me walk into Panera to meet with my small finance team. I would literally feel like I was gonna throw up.
We're the same. We're the same. Absolutely.
So those people helped me and we grew fast. Like so we started with those few meals that I was telling you about. I don't even know the number of meals we served in 2012. In 2013, we served 10,250 meals and we were all Only in Dayton and Cincinnati. You know, last year we served 190,000 meals, you know, and so so we had to figure it out. But because I had that fight, we had a board of like 10. But we had five or six, or nine, I guess, five or six really strong business people. And they helped us with the strategy of growth when we started going into the new new area, serving more people working with the hospitals, you know, all of those things. I mean, now we have like, a real business plan and matrix for growth. What we need, we have data, where do you come from, you know, I do want to highlight another story if you don't care in this transition that also involves Lexi. So it's a very big part of PRG of who we are today. So fast forward to Lexi's a sophomore and like I mentioned to you, she has all these Division One Soccer Coaches asking about her and mine you. I know nothing about division one sports. I'm very competitive, but I'm not athletic. She we live in Dayton, she would drive an hour and 15 minutes to play on the ECNL team. All my other kids, I barely let them drive on the highway. By the time they were 16. We had to practice when she hit 16. I'm like, Go Cincinnati. I am so tired of driving to Cincinnati. She laughs about it. Plus she drove like a grandma. But anyways, so we fly to Phoenix for this ECNL tournament. And I had never seen anything like it. We get there 75 coaches along the sidelines. And I'm like, if you leave Dayton to fly to Phoenix for soccer, your clue you're clearly in a cult. I mean, I was like unbelievable.
Yeah, you're in.
I'm failing in every area of my life, right? PRG is about to hit the $1 million mark, we basically have three, maybe three employees. I mean, that's stretching it with some people that aren't paid. I feel like I'm not doing well there. The boxes are still exploding. We're doing all of these things. And mind you at this point, we're in Columbus. But Columbus was a different challenge, because it was a research hospital. So we had so many more stage four patients, which made our budget higher, all of these things. And I said Lex, I have 345 emails in my inbox, and Steve is with my other daughter somewhere else. And I say Lex give me 45 minutes, just give me 45 minutes, and I'd have to go at the Phoenix Airport over three terminals. And I tell you this because how crazy it is I couldn't find a place to plug in my Mac. So I go sit there. I'm like, give me 45 minutes. I'm going to try to get through as many of the easiest emails I can. Five minutes later, of course, she comes over, Mom can I $5 for Starbucks, and I was like, Sure give her my card. This guy sitting beside me goes, did you adopt her? I was like, clearly. And then he goes, tell me your story. And I was like, I have all these emails. So I tell him as fast as I can. And he goes, You never gonna believe this. And the VC for the guy that started Amazon sold the software called Zhang Li to Jeff Bezos. So Amazon could sell more than books. Were working on AI for breast cancer. Now, we're gonna want to work with you.
I mean, this is one of the nudges I'm talking about. This is the cosmicness of the universe.
So I walk back over and I tell this to my dad, my parents are with me. My dad goes, this is single handedly going to change PRG. I go Dad, I'm never going to hear from that guy again. So this is May of 2017. Okay, so August of 2017. I don't hear anything. It's 10pm on a Sunday night, my phone rings it says Neil Phoenix airport because that's what I put them in my phone. So So Steve, I have it on speaker and my husband's like listening. He's like, I mean, have no cash on the phone. You know, the guy was telling you about the guy, the founder of Zhang Li I have our cash on the phone. We're going to need you to fly to St. Louis tomorrow. We'll get a car for you. I mean, I live in a cornfield, basically, sort of, and he's like, we'll get a car from you. We'll take you to the Cincinnati airport. We're gonna need to talk to you at WashU. So Steve's like, did you look them up? I get off the film decide I'd like I was rattled. I call back and say I'll go five in the morning, right? We get in the biggest fight probably we've gotten in in years. Steven, I can't do this. Columbus isn't doing well. I'm not cut out for this. This is way down and up. And he goes, Heather, get on the freakin plane. This is what God's called you to do. Get on the plane. Brave people like show up scared. So I sit in the back of that car, the whole hour to Cincinnati. Like, what in the heck I'm doing. And somehow when I just got there, I was like, might as well go for it. I have no idea who these people really are. So we sat down. And I said to him again, hadn't looked into him that much. And I said, Listen, let's just know where we're at. I'm here so that you, you don't look like you're a really rich guy trying to become more rich that you have a heart. So I'm letting you know, I'll come out and I'll tell you all the things of a breast cancer survivor and I'll be your biggest advocate. But you have to open your Rolodex for me so that we can grow PRG nationally. He goes okay.
I mean, this is the difference between somebody who has a job in somebody who has a passion because you are not going to take no for an answer you are going to fight for that mission. And this entire story as it's just has so many incredible and unbelievable tenants in winding paths to it. But it was literally like the Little nonprofit that could like it just kept going. And people kept showing up. And I think the thing that I love so much about it, Heather is it could have been a Dayton, Ohio breast cancer organization. And and I got to tie it back to something that happened to Jon and I, about 10 years ago, we were working in health care philanthropy, it because I want you, I want you to talk about what you've done to increase awareness and how you've expanded this. And we did a lot of fundraising for our Cancer Institute. And but when we went and sat down with them, and said, What do you need? Like, what's not basic? What do people not know about in terms of the cancer treatment, and they said, the nutrition is so important, and there's no energy to be able to cook efficiently for this, can you help us with meals, and so we created a little program called can serve, I would love to take credit, but we didn't come up with it, we just funded it. But it was it was partnering with a local votec that had a culinary arts group, they got together with local growers, and sourced all of this clean food. And they made three meals a day for cancer patients. And so everybody that came through 1000s of them,
Amazing.
God, I don't even remember how many weeks it was. But anyway, we the point is, we had no idea about nutrition, we had no idea about the various needs. And I think what you're saying here is you're taking that awareness to a much broader group and it and I felt truly changed by it. So I want you to talk about how you flex this platform. And now you have this brand. And what have you learned about the awareness and the understanding of the situation and circumstances of clients, you know, to ensure that your business is really aligned with what clients need? And how did you put that on steroids now that you had a national platform to do so?
Yeah, good questions, all of the above. So basically, all the issues that I told you we had with the meals, the benefit that the bay gives you, right is a lot of innovative things. And so someone at the bay, it's always one degree of separation, introduce us to a meal service plan out there. And that was our first time originally, when we go to St. Louis, we hired a chef just like Ohio, and then had them flash freeze the meals then worked with a logistics company. It just wasn't scalable for what we were doing. But I'm, I'm loyal to a fault. So I do have to tell you not working with that Chef almost did me in like, like when I had to talk to him about growth and figuring out that we had to go with a meal service program. I cried like someone died, honestly, because that guy had been there for me and figured things out, you know, but he didn't have the capability to figure out how to ship foods across state line and be able to give us the price point that we needed. So since then, in full entrepreneurship, we started with one company. COVID happened, the meal service plans, you would have thought would have gone crazy, which they did, but some of them couldn't sustain. So then that one wasn't doing good. So they increased our price so ridiculously that we would have been able to serve like 250,000 less meals. So then we went to this other company who I thought would be forever in business. And then they got bought out by Nestle and started their b2c stopped their b2c program. Gave me two weeks notice mind you, I'm sending 15,000 meals a month, give us two weeks notice at Christmas, where no one works, we were able to land and this is just January of this year with fresh and lean and they're privately held. They are based out of California. But they care. The thing I wouldn't give up on you guys is healthy meals, like I wasn't going to give them crap and we could have found solutions for non healthy meals. But I was like if I'm not going to eat it when I have cancer, why would I want them to eat it. And that's a hard place to be. So firstly, now that we have all these things that I don't know the words to write, like API, and our backend matches their back end, and you know, all these go over my paygrade. And they can choose their own meals. And if it's someone that's not tech savvy, then we can tell that their grandma isn't tech savvy, and then we can call them and they can choose their meals through us crazy crazy. We know what kind of insurance they have. So we can write those specific grants. We know how many rides they've taken with then. Rakesh, his daughter Isla was 15 when I met her, and by the time I left their house, and she called me her and Rakesh called me and told me she was going to quit high school to come intern with me in Ohio for a little while. And bring PRG to the day helped bring PRG to the bay. And so then when she was in college after all of this, she helped worked with Uber to help create a code so that you can have a code that would only go for our rides. All of this is helping us scale like this. So out of my league, this is so out of all All of our leaks. Same with the community that this is like I was talking to my husband last night about this interview, like, if you're in the bay, or if you're in St. Louis, or if you're in Dayton, you're like, Oh, if you meet this PRG family with this big family, they know it's them. Like, we have all these pink trucks, and they'll say, we provided 10,000, we've provided 10,000 meals, it's them. It's so much bigger than me. It's so much bigger than all of us. We are one family. And in that they make the difference. And when I'm at an event, and they're like, oh my gosh, does your person complain about? Because we have like 60 Pink truck, pink trucks now. So they're bright pink, and they have our logo, all of them. Like, does your driver complain? And they're like, oh, no, we provided 1200 meals with our truck. It's like
I think it's a point of pride for me.
Yeah. So. So those are the things I've like, I don't you know, when I listened to them, like even the podcast on Airbnb and how they started well, if I would have known all the issues, I wouldn't have done it like that's how I feel right? Like if I would have known all these things, same with everything you did. So a lot of it's a growing curve. I mean, I would sit out there in California with some of those meetings with founders of companies that like, open table and weird things that you use whats up app or WhatsApp or whatever. WhatsApp, I got it, I got it. I got it. Yeah, loved them. There were friends, but I would go to the bathroom and I would call my husband, I need to come home. I shouldn't be here. I can't even like the first time they were like, so what is your business plan and I was like, I don't know, to make sure 300 people get their meals next week. Like that was my plan. So you really had to grow and I had to really be willing to grow, get the education. But I took a class on reading a P&L. So I knew my finances forward and backwards. I took a class on how to present, you know, a real business plan. But you know, Sara Blakely is my hero. And I won't let go of the passion of who I am. I don't I don't raise money orthodox, like I come in, and they're like, I planned on five. And I'm like, well, I need 50. Like I don't, I am not normal in that aspects. But I did have to become better become more polished, become a better leader. You know, sometimes I still pull in here. And there's all these cars, and I have nowhere to park and I'm like, Oh Lord, I really hope all these people aren't counting on me to hold it together. You know what I mean? Like, it's still so surreal. So many times.
Heather Salazar, I just, I love the human that you are, I love just your open arms just for people in your life and the way that you have led this organization and that way too, because it's so much more beautiful because of how you've let people in without outside of your capabilities outside of what maybe where you're, you know, innate knowings, you have grown so much. So I'm curious, like looking back now, what would you go back and tell young Heather, on this journey? What would you say now? Like, maybe what not to sweat? Or what would you kind of encourage her?
So so the first time this is still hard for me, I don't know, the first time that I hadn't like an employee issue. Like I think everyone's my friend, how could you know, like me, I like you.
I suffer from this as well.
Ah, I, yeah, I let things go too long. And it's so weird, because I'm straight shooter, no shocker. But I'll then come in, and I'm mad, I'll be like, I'm mad, we've got to figure this out. And then I'm over it. And people don't get over it, or they don't move on. And the first time that like, I had to hire people that were like, so much smarter than me in certain aspects. My board literally sat me down and they said, You're gonna lose 50% of your employees. This is big. You're going to this you're expecting more things, you're more professional. And I was like, these people are lifers, no way. And guess what, yeah, I lost 50% of my employees. I mean, and I was like, so hurt. And now I'm just like, wow, they're on to doing great things. We're on to doing great things like if I could somehow not take that personally, and also encourage them. But I'm still not great at that.
There is no clean journey in this and founding a nonprofit. And I just commend so much for what you've done. And I, I want you to give some counsel to individuals out there who are going through evolved partnerships, because we've been talking about this for two years. And I want people to embrace and feel the boldness of Heather Salazar, when they walk into an organization and they want to pitch to them and say, This is why I think there is value in in our partnership for you and for me, I want you to talk about how you've done this what counsel you would give them because you have corporate partnerships across the country, people who are pouring into the mission of Pink Ribbon Good. Talk to us about what you've learned about collaborations and what counsel you would give to other nonprofits who are really trying to make those bold partnership asks.
So I think the biggest thing is to always, always be willing to take feedback. So like, I think when you're able to say, How did I do? If you didn't know me? Would you still agree with what I'm saying? Like, you know, meeting meeting wasn't a pitch strong enough, if I'm in Silicon Valley, and not right here with my good buddy Ernst Concrete, my, one of my first pink trucks, you know, what would you do? And they'll say, You talk too fast, or Tom Robinson always used to say, I had to turn my hearing aid down Heather, but I barely ever tell you no. You have to be willing to take that. And sometimes being self aware, I do think as I've led more people, as our team gets bigger as I'm starting to create a leadership team, the easiest people to coach and grow is if you are self aware, right? Yeah. So I know sometimes for a long time, I could walk in and here's my story, but I love it and you would be it. But the bigger the more times people have heard 50 million people pitch because you know, they're doing the WhatsApp. You have to be polished, I have to pitch differently in the bay than I do in Cincinnati. And I had a lot of critical feedback where sometimes I'm like, Dang am I cut out for this? So one, I think it's to be willing to, to have critical feedback. The second is, I don't know if you guys like Bob Goff. But I love Bob Gough
I love Bob Goff. His cell phone in the back of his books. It's insane.
I know. I know. So he coaches me some and he's like, ask for what you want. Ask for what you want every day, ask for what you want. The other thing that I think is my secret sauce, which probably annoys people sometimes like my husband is I just never overthink it. In my head, it's gonna go good. It doesn't feel good. I'm crushed. Because I
Love your giddy optimism. Me too. We're ridiculous, idealists.
They're gonna give me the money. And and so I think that my secret sauce is I just always assume it's going to work out. Now clearly, it doesn't always work out. And you know, even in the hardest part of my job, guys is my whole family. You know, we watch people die. That is not easy. That is not easy. And they but you know, what, our lives my entire family's life. And they will tell you, this is so much better with these people. They live in the moment, they don't worry about getting their hair wet. Sometimes they don't have hair they get on the slide. They think I don't know if I'm going to see this. So I'm going to show up right now. They're not on their phones. They're not sweating, the small stuff, they make us better humans. And the minute I'm not sobbing once a week for someone who's going through some is the minute I've done because I shouldn't be doing this. So I also think letting people in, and truly just learning from them. Is is the best gift I've ever been given. It is such a privilege that these people have changed my life. And you know, I just lost my vice chair. And she was a powerhouse over Midmark which makes all the hospital beds. And her mantra she's she spoke at our last event, we moved our event up because we have two board members very sick, which, so we moved our event up to June, which we always have it September 16. And she spoke and she's like, Don't wait. Don't wait to tell people you love them. Don't wait to use the good china, don't wait to go on vacation. Like don't wait. And when you can learn from those people and live your life like that you are living such a great life. And the other thing that Stephanie said is don't use my death as an excuse, but as an a purpose for everything that you do. So what a legacy will live on through these people. The only way you honor us is by loving your family and living big. That's the only way you honor these people. So that's just the way we have to choose to live.
I mean, I love that you brought it back to community. That's our rally cry cry here. It feels like that's what synergy. It's what started your story. It's what surrounds and uplift your story today. So we have to ask, and you've given us so many great stories. But I wonder if you would take us to a moment of philanthropy in your life or journey that has stuck with you. And you really saw the power of philanthropy take us back to that.
It's no, it's no joke around here at PRG that the bay kicks my butt. I'm just telling you, it's hard. It's hard. They don't understand they have a lot of zeros by their name. But somehow I can't always get them to give money. It's a different, it's a different world out there. And the need the disparity gap is so huge. You're either boom, or you're boom. And so about a year ago, and you know, after COVID One thing that we did that was super scary is every day I had a $50,000 event canceling as soon as it started. And I was like, Oh my God. Yet 50% of the people we were serving are at the poverty line and their kids ate three meals a day at school, and they stopped going to school in one day. So I took everybody together and I said if you want a job, and you're still on this team and your heart's beating like Welcome to the fundraising team, we got to figure this out. And then I made a decision that I pretty much was seven out of 10 Sure it would sink us i I said, everybody that's at the poverty line where you're going to give them five meals a week instead of three. Because their kids aren't eating and they can't get to the soup kitchen, and they can't get to the food lines, fold. So it gave us about six weeks until we were out of business six weeks. And I was like, this is this is my hill to die on. It's the right thing to do. Every other nonprofit I knew shut their door. And I was like, These people don't have food. And they have to go to I needed an army to go with me to chemo like literally an army. And these people have to go in by themselves. And like Alien suits, basically, with mask had to tell him they can't feed their kids. So I just thought, Okay, this is going to be our hill to die on, but we're going to do it. So anybody's business that wasn't hurting at that time was construction, which luckily, I have a lot of construction, whatever, I asked them to double up. And they were like, Heather, we don't know what's gonna happen. I go, these people are dying, and they can't feed their kids. So we just kept going. And then as you know, there was PPP. And clearly we made it, but that gave me credibility in the bay. Okay. But one time last year, when I was like, I can't I don't know if we're gonna get it. My patient coordinator came over and she called me and she goes, Heather, you always say we can make decisions, and not have to ask permission, ask for forgiveness. And I'm like, Yeah, I'm all about that fail fast, fail forward. She said, Remy, lives in a rented room. And she has stage four cancer. And she met all the criteria, and she wouldn't take our food. And she said, I need a ride, I need a ride to have surgery tomorrow. I don't have this. I don't have anyone. Her emergency contact contact was her landlord in a rented room where 10 people were living in a four room house. And finally, Diane goes, she wouldn't take our food. And I kept pushing why she wouldn't take our food. And finally she goes, it's okay, I just need a ride. She said, I have no family here. And I live in this rented room. And I've learned to survive on bread and water. Because I don't have a refrigerator. And Diane goes, I know, we don't have any money. But I sent her a refrigerator from amazon so she could get our food. And that's when I was like, we're gonna figure it out in the bay.
I just think back to that time, and COVID. And I just think of the paralysis, so many of us felt. And I think that a word I really want nonprofits to embrace and you have done it culturally and embedded it culturally into your nonprofit is we've got to get some moxie. We got to get comfortable with taking that risk that our mission deserves. And figuring it out. And then socializing and telling the story of what's going to happen if we do and what's going to happen if we don't, and allow people to rise into that moment. And I want to be a part of missions that allow people the dignity to have more than food and water when they're going through stage four cancer. And I think the fact that you empowered your team to embrace that says so much to me about the culture you have created of moxie within Pink Ribbon Good. And so I just feel so grateful that we've had this conversation you had been dropping bombs the entire time that are full of truth and wisdom. We end with a one good thing and I wonder what is yours? Could be a piece of advice, a life hack, what would you leave with our audience?
Two things. I'm gonna leave two. One I want to tell you that this summer Lexi volunteered here, which she never has, because she plays soccer. And she came in to staff meeting and she said, I got to give three people rides today and my mom didn't have a ride.
Full Circle, baby.
That was amazing. The second thing is look for a glimmer of hope. During COVID like what you said every day we would ring a bell or a yell, a loud thing for a glimmer of hope to try to see where we're gonna make it in the glimmers were small, like, someone brought us cookies today because we're still working. Those were our glimmers of hope. But just look at a glimmer of hope at a time to get through and one step leads to another.
The words of this community that surrounded this thing are just flowing through this conversation. Heather, I just we're just so delighted to be able to get to meet you today and hear this story. Wonder if you connect us up. How do you show up online? Where can people find y'all? What do y'all need?
And what do you guys need?
The ways to connect?
Well, just in case MacKenzie Scott's listening about $10 million.
All of our listeners need that. Yes.
You never know. Yes. Or Sara Blakely. She's my hero.
She's on our Ungettable Get List. Both of them.
You know, we actually in all truth, you can find us at pinkribbongood.org You can also find us on all the socials as Pink Ribbon Good. The other thing that I think is so awesome with our growth, if anyone's listening and super passionate about this, we actually do have like a matrix now. And so there are things we know to go into different people's regions as we're trying to go a hospital partner and Ambassador, you know, advisory board and we can raise money and that's how we are going into these new regions. So if anyone's super passionate, like they can reach out to us and that's how we got to Buffalo and that's kind of how we're going to Louisville next and so that would be awesome too.
You are planting your community you are growing, you're expanding. And I just think of all the Alexis' out there, who would have been alone had you not listen to your nudge. And so thank you brave Heather Salazar for being such a model of resilience, moxie, we are rooting for you. And thank you on behalf of the Amy's and all of our lives who are going through breast cancer and, and wrapping all of us and community and just basic necessities, you're our hero.
Thank you so much for having me.
Thanks so much for being here, friends, and you probably hear it in our voices. But we love connecting you with the most innovative people to help you achieve more for your mission than ever before.
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