May 14, 2026 • 30 mins
Suzanne Stone President & CEO of Livestrong | CEO's You Should Know
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
We're here with Suzanne Stone, president and CEO of Livestrong
on CEOs you should know powered by iHeartRadio. Suzanne, Welcome,
Thanks so much, great to be here, so happy to
have you here. Thanks for making the trip from Austin.
I know you have business in New York, but what
we wanted to do was sit down and learn a
little bit more about you, the CEO behind Livestrong, and
(00:21):
about Livestrong itself. You began your career in television, and
you even earned a regional Emmy from your work. What
motivated your transition from media into mission driven nonprofit leadership.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Yeah, it's interesting. I was.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
I came out of school and I went to TCU
go Frogs and came out of school, went right into
television production.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
And what I learned there is the.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Art of storytelling, and that's what I really wanted to do.
I loved connecting with people, even then, and in my twenties,
I didn't really know. You don't know much right about
life at all, but I really loved getting to know people.
I got to travel the state a lot and the
state of Texas a lot, and meet people from all over.
I moved to Chicago and continued my work in production there,
(01:10):
and then I took a job working for a public
access television station. And you'll remember Wayne's World, or you know,
if you're too young for Wayne's wor old you you
can chat, you can chat it, you can google it.
But public Access was truly the mother of YouTube. And
I started working there and it was really my first
(01:31):
foray into this section of you know, nonprofit work. I
really hadn't been exposed to that prior. And what I
learned was that I was teaching people how to do
something I knew how to do. Then I didn't feel
complicated to me, but I taught them how to, you know,
use lights in a microphone, tell their stories, edit together
(01:54):
the piece that they wanted to and then we put
it on the air for free, because you know, we
just had the old television then, and we put it
on the air for free. And what I found was
that people's lives changed because of something I taught some
people and a show we put on. So there was
a gentleman who was a lawyer and he he did
(02:16):
his show called It's the Law I think was the
name of the title of it. And because his show
is on every week, I don't know what it was,
you know, Wednesdays at seven pm or whatever the regular
time slot for him was. People started calling him more
and he became the expert in this area of law,
(02:37):
and his life changed because of something I did, you know, indirectly,
but that was That was the moment when I realized
that I really loved this idea of not just connecting
with people, but doing something with them that impacted their
lives in a positive way.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Incredible. I like to dive a little bit deeper there.
From your ex experiences with the public access television, I'm
also told coaching college basketball. These experiences are like nutrients
that helped form leadership. How did they help form leadership
for you into becoming the leader you are today?
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Absolutely?
Speaker 3 (03:16):
You know. Our career path obviously is never linear, right
Like it looks like this crazy line that has no
directions sometimes and if you're young and you're listening, it's
okay if you're doing a job that you had no
intent of doing. My coaching job, I accidentally, quite accidentally
(03:36):
became the head coach of a women's junior college basketball
team in Schenectady, New York. Oh wow, I was I
was running I was the executive director of a public
access station. But I needed more money, and so I
needed a second job. And back then the newspaper was
still a thing, and I saw a want to add
(03:58):
for an assistant that basketball coach at this college. And
I'd played my whole life. I love the sport, and
I was like, Oh, I could do that assistant. That
probably is pretty easy. I never even met the head coach.
Two weeks later I got hired because I think nobody
else applied for the job. And then the athletic director
called and said, well, you know, the head coach has quit.
(04:21):
I need you to be the head coach. So for
some crazy reason, I said yes. But taking on roles
like that, I think in a a couple of things happened.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
One I stretched a lot like.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Trusted myself, just said yes and said I'll figure it
out along the way. I can do this, right, I
can do this. So first I learned to have a
little bit of faith in myself that I can do
these things. I can do this coaching specifically, Wow, what
a path to leadership. I thought I was there to
teach these young women a motion offense and how to
(04:58):
transition a fast break. No I was there to guide
these young women through the hardest times of their life
and get them from a junior college to a four
year degree, to get them out of this school and
into a four year school where they could advance their life.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
That's what I was there for.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
And the relationships that I built, they taught me more
than I ever taught them. So I think when you
when I look back on my life and my career,
coaching was coaching those young women. We never had ten players,
by the way, we never did. Sometimes we would end
the game with four on the floor and it was tremendous.
(05:41):
It was a lesson in resilience. It was a lesson
in how people are so diverse and you have to
be ready to listen to everybody, even when you can't
understand them initially. You've got to really listen, really listen.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
That's great, Thank you so much for sharing. We're here
with Susanstone, our president and CEO of Live Strong. On
CEOs you should know, want to shift some of our
discussion to Live Strong. Can you tell me about the
first moment that you engaged with Live Strong and maybe
like that first date that you had with the organization
(06:17):
and how that made you feel absolutely.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
So I was working.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
I'd made my way to Austin, and I was the
executive director of Susan g Coman in Austin and grew
that to east in central Texas. So if you haven't
been to Texas, essentially I call it the East Coast,
so the hill country and kind of the east coast
of Texas.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Right.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
And because I am an active learner, I want to learn.
I want to know more. How can I do this
job better? How can I change things? How can we
impact more people. I did everything I needed to do
to get to know the CEO of Livestrong at the time,
because we were proximates, so Livestrong was started in Austin.
(07:03):
I was living in Austin. It was pretty easy for
me to eventually be in the same room with him.
So I got to know him, kind of made him
have lunch with me about every quarter and he picked
up the phone one day and called me. I remember
exactly where I was. I was in my apartment and
he said, Suzanne, I need somebody to come in and
(07:30):
really be my number two. I need somebody to come
in and evaluate our mission programs. I really want to
look at strategy and say how can we move this
organization forward? And I think you're the right person.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
To do it.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Wow, how did that make you feel?
Speaker 3 (07:43):
It made me feel amazing, like I'm sorry me, did
you call the right person?
Speaker 2 (07:50):
It was really great.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
So I joined Livestrong in twenty nineteen, righte pre pandemic
had the opportunity. It was a great opportunity for me
to come into an organization like Livestrong and deeply understand
the mission work that we were doing.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
It was four years working.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
There in that role before he retired and the board
decided to do that big search, which they always should,
and they did that. I served as interim and helped
them interview other people.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
And ended up getting the job.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
That's great and I.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Couldn't be more honored and excited to be here.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Wow, that is such an incredible story. And I can
tell with your passion and your emotion just how much
the position means to you. Let's talk about that position
and your leadership, especially joining the organization in twenty nineteen.
And then, hello, Suzanne, here's the pandemic to deal with.
Let's talk about how you foster innovation while staying grounded
(08:56):
to the deep human needs of the cancer survivors and
their family. How do you do it all?
Speaker 2 (09:03):
I'll tell you it's difficult only in the it's difficult in.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
The respect that when you're leading, or you're in front
of a laptop right or you're on the telephone, it
can be very easy to be disconnected from people looking
at them and really feeling who they are. So I've
really intentionally made sure that all of the time, every
single week, if not daily, I'm on the phone or
(09:32):
an email thread, I'm having lunch with I'm going to
see people who we impact every day, building relationships with
people one on one, understanding people who've been a part
of the Live Strong family for a very long time.
Will be thirty in nineteen ninety, in twenty twenty seven,
so some of the people that I know now have
(09:53):
been a part of the Live Strong family.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
For literally almost thirty years.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
Meeting them remind me of what I need to do
every day, and that that email I'm sending, that grant application,
I'm writing, whatever that is, is having real impact on
their life today, tomorrow and maybe their children's lives ten
years from now. So I think it's really important to
continue to always build those relationships outside of the office. Yeah,
(10:22):
got to get out. So I'm in New York because, yeah,
because I need to be here. I need to see
what's happening. So when it comes to innovation, I think
it's important to understand how everybody receives resources from a
live strong perspective. That's the thing one of the things
I'm super proud about. We are think about if cancer
(10:44):
is in your life, the first thing that happens, you
leave the doctor's office, you tell somebody, and everybody hits Google. Right,
Everybody's going online and researching, and what they're hearing are
Facebook facts, Applesite or vinegar or cures and you can't
trust so much of what you're reading. How do you
(11:04):
know if this is real or not? And so it
was very clear to me in that early mission work
that I did, which is why that piece of my
journey here at Lifstrong was so important, that we needed
to be that trusted resource and trusted meaning that I'm
going to provide you information that I would provide my
loved ones, fact based, science based What you do with
(11:27):
that information, though, that's up to you. We improve Our
goal is to improve the quality of life for anyone
affected by cancer. But I'm not going to prescribe what
that quality of life looks like for you, because it
may be different than it would be for me. But
what I we're going to do is make sure that
that information you can trust. So when it comes to innovation,
(11:48):
I not only have to give you trusted information, I've
got to deliver it in a way that you want
to receive it. My twenty six year old has no
interest in reading a physical book. He's read lots of books,
He's got a master's degree smart, but if you put
a physical book in front of him, what.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Does he do with that?
Speaker 3 (12:04):
Your kids right, same thing. So we created the first
AI powered cancer survivorship companion.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Her name is Ellis.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Ellis Ellis is great.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
So the first question I always get is why ellis
so Live strong LS and then just say it Ellis.
One of our tech team actually came up with that name,
but it built Ellis as that innovative first step of
saying we have to be there no matter where the
(12:37):
person is, and be ready to interact with people the
way they're interacting with information today and tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
We can't wait. We can't.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
I'm going to mail you a guide book, and so
that takes how long you got diagnosed yesterday and it's
going to take a week or so for you to
get this book. You'll already be emotional, not super logical,
and it takes time for that information to come in.
But with this app with Ellis, we're able to interact
(13:07):
on the desktop. You're able to interact on the app
on your phone and have full on conversations just like
you would with Chad or Claude or any LLM.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Right, that's great. You had mentioned people Google search to
get information. I wanted to just let the people know
how to learn more about you.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
Absolutely, so it's really easy. Livestrong dot org best place
to go. We're on YouTube. You can see lots of
great exercise videos on YouTube that we do for if
you're recovering. We've got resources. Everything is free on our
site livestrong dot org. Easy to find us there. We're
on LinkedIn, We're on Facebook, Instagram, all the places perfect,
(13:47):
just at livestrong, easy to find us.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
With that, how do you as a leader as a
CEO and how can you educate young CEOs that are
listening to drive innovation and to drive people to continue
to evolve of the business and the organization, because that
is so important as a leader, that you get people
to believe and do remarkable things like the creation of ELTs.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
I think it's one of the hardest things.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
What I would say and what I say to our
team that we have to be just as brave as
the person who's fighting cancer is that's remarkable. You have
to be brave. What the cost of not doing it
is so high, the cost of not trying so high.
(14:31):
Our our team culture is fail fast. But we've got
to fail because you never get you never get to
yes without collecting the nose. You never get to success
without failure. So really my advice would be adopt that
entrepreneurial mindset that we see in the social impact space.
(14:52):
We don't do that enough. Take that, put on that
entrepreneurial hat. What would what would you do if you
were developing a widget? Yep, you would try it would fail. Okay,
the world didn't end right, try again, improve again, And
so you have to be you have to be brave.
It's not always easy. Nobody wants to fail. Everybody wants
(15:13):
to say that they got it right the first time.
But that's just that's just not the case. It's never
going to happen, So it's okay. It goes back to
those early lessons that I learned.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Yeah, that's amazing, you can do this. One of my
son's hockey coaches made a comment to my son that
I use with my leadership with my team is similar
to what you're saying, Suzanne. He said, Jackson, I'm okay
with you making mistakes, but let's start making new ones.
(15:43):
Meaning you've learned and you've moved on from that moment
and now you're trying something new and something innovative.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
Absolutely, if you use, if you use as long as
you are, you are looking at the problem beforehand, coming
up with a solution, and then really evaluating. We are
right now, our team is in the middle of a
thirty day sprint, and every five days we're evaluating did
this work? Where is the trajectory the direction that we
(16:10):
need it to be. And if so, let's keep doing that.
But if it's not, then we need to pivot, So
pivot quickly.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
Thanks for everyone tuning into CEOs. You should know powered
by iHeartRadio. I want to talk about three decades, I
mean thirty years to be in an organization and to
be they are helping cancer patients and their support teams,
their families. What's changed with the mission from maybe when
you started in twenty nineteen to the direction that you're
(16:39):
going as you enter your thirtieth anniversary, or as the
mission stayed the same?
Speaker 3 (16:45):
Our mission has primarily stayed the same since the very beginning,
since nineteen ninety seven, it's evolved the way that the
world has evolved. So it has always been patient centered care.
How do we ensure sure that people who are experiencing cancer,
and that's not just the patient right, but it's survivorship.
(17:06):
We lifstrong created what is now called survivorship and cancer care.
That word didn't exist before nineteen ninety seven happened today.
There are patient navigators thanks in a large part of
what the organization did back then. They're patient navigators in
every oncology office. So we don't need to do that.
(17:27):
We used to have to do that, but we don't
need to duplicate services. So the way that the organization
has evolved is we've actually worked on putting ourselves out
of business in certain areas of the mission. But until
the last person who has experienced cancer passes away, the
Mission will continue even if they found a cure. Today,
(17:49):
Like right now we walk out of the studio, the
news of the day breaking headlines, you know there's a
cure for cancer. The fact is we've got eighteen million
people living in the United States today who've all already
had cancer. They've already gone through treatment. Their physical bodies,
their emotional minds will never be the same, and their
ecosystems will never be the same either. So there are
(18:11):
still all of those people that will need to serve.
How we do it changes, just like ellis right, how
we deliver those services. It's so important for us to
evolve fast, really quickly, to keep up with how people
are consuming information today. Our mission continues to be to
(18:32):
improve the quality of life for everyone affected by cancer,
the patient, the caregiver, the next door neighbor, the teacher,
all of the people, everybody. So from the moment of
diagnosis is where we start, the moment of diagnosis until
no evidence of disease, metastatic living with a chronic condition.
(18:53):
Seven out of ten people now who are diagnosed with
cancer are able to live five years or beyond. That
is a massive gains. We've done such great work, a
lot of great organizations focus on finding a cure and
improving therapies, and we support them wholeheartedly, but that's not
our mission.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
Right understood. Before we started our podcast today, Suzanne, we
talked a little bit about the fertility discount program. I
know that's been such an important part of your strategic roadmap.
Can you let our listeners know a little bit more
about what you're doing in the fertility world.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
In two thousand and four, Live Strong identified this gap
that was happening, and unfortunately the gap is still there,
but we're working really hard to close it. So when
somebody is diagnosed with cancer and they're of childbearing age,
so really today, that could be thirteen to forty It
depends on the individual. But if you're in childbearing age,
you're diagnosed and you have this finite amount of time
(19:52):
prior to cancer treatment beginning to decide whether or not
you want to preserve the opportunity to have children in
the few The fact is that not all treatment could
impact your fertility, but a lot of treatments do. So
you can imagine you just found out you have cancer
and now your treatment starts in thirty days, But if
(20:14):
you want to preserve your eggs. If you want to
have this opportunity to potentially have a child maybe in
the future, you're going to have to make that decision
right now. Also, the average cost for a woman going
through fertility treatment is fourteen thousand dollars.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
Who has that Nobody.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
I don't know about you, but the average person does
not have fourteen thousand sitting in savings ready to throw
at this. And also, you never know if it's going
to be successful, like this is such an emotional piece.
So we realized very early that we needed to figure
out a way to make it more affordable and also
to educate the oncologists that are happening, you know, saying, hey,
(20:57):
we've got to bring this not just to the to
the patients, but also to the oncologists. We want to
make sure they're having those conversations with their patients as
soon as they're diagnosed, especially if they fit this criteria.
So we created the Fertility Discount Program. We now have
a network of about one hundred and fifty clinics all
around the country, probably a dozen here in New York actually,
(21:20):
and they have all agreed to discount their services by
at least twenty five percent beyond that, which is substantial.
Most of them do far less than that. In fact,
sometimes we see clinics doing fifty five hundred as opposed
to fourteen thousand or more, so significant discounts. On top
of that, we've got a great partnership with a pharmaceutical company,
(21:41):
emd Serono. They provide those fertility medications for free to
those women that we're talking about forty five hundred dollars
per round. Sometimes those women are getting five rounds before beforehand.
So to date we've served over nineteen thousand patients on
thousand people preserving their fertility. We've saved them over one
(22:03):
hundred and ten million dollars. Wow, that is closing a gap.
We're now advocating for states to make ensure that insurance
companies have to cover this because insurance companies currently are
not required to cover fertility as part of cancer treatment.
That's why that cost is so high. Right now, we've
got twenty two states that have said yes, New York
(22:25):
being one of them that have said yes, private insurance
does need to cover that, which is awesome. The problem
that does still remain is that Medicaid is not a
part of that list. So really the people to do
we have more work to do. The people who need
that discount the most, we're here for them.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
Yeah, you've done such incredible work with the fertility discount program.
How can people learn more about that?
Speaker 3 (22:49):
People can learn more about the program. It's really easy
to apply. Just go to livestrong dot org. You're going
to click on resources how we help. You can actually
just google Live strong for utility and the application will
pop right up.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
Wonderful, amazing CEOs you should know today Powered by iHeartRadio.
We're proud to have Suzanne Stone, president CEO of lidge Strong.
It's been so wonderful learning more about your career and
of course the Live strong organization. What's on the horizon,
what's next? Any new developments? Can you let us know
(23:24):
what the next project might be.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
Got all kinds of great things happening, all kinds, So
we've got a you know, we've got a lot of
great things. So we're based in Austin, but you'll find
us everywhere. Yeah, from Honolulu to New York to Minnesota, Florida.
We're really all over the place. We do a lot
of work. You'll see us in events. If you're interested,
come join us on teams. We were marathons, the New
(23:50):
York Marathon, TD five, Burrough Chicago Marathon, the Disney coming
up in twenty twenty seven, Wow five K, ten K
half in full. So do lots of events like that.
One exciting event that we have coming up in honor
of September eleventh, the twenty fifth anniversaries this September, which
is hard to believe, is one of the new and
(24:12):
I bring it up because one of the new initiatives
that we have as we've really recognized that there's a
big gap for first responders. First responders are nine percent
more likely to be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime,
fourteen percent more likely to die from that.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
Oh my goodness, there's reasons for that.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
We have to do a better job of providing resources
for this community. So we're doing a ride nine to eleven,
Ride for Resilience in partnership with a couple of other organizations,
Friends of Firefighters, the FDNY, Boston Fire and we are
creating resources specifically for our first responder community that they
(24:50):
can trust in. They're helping us create this, So we
want to put that in every firehouse, AMT police apartment nationwide.
So those occupational cancers which happen on the job. Right,
the bravest among us deserve for us to show up
for that.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
Son. We're going to do that.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
So you'll see some new resources coming out that are
specifically geared towards that you'll also see in coming up.
Food is Medicine, Big lots of things happening on the
nutrition front. You'll see a lot of work coming there.
And exercise Oncology. We've got a new twelve week class
that's coming out via video. You can take it. Each
week you'll get a new exercise class delivered to you
(25:33):
that is appropriate for somebody who's just come out of treatment.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
Wow, that's incredible. You guys are busy.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
We're busy. I didn't even name all the things, but yes.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
That exercise Elements sounds really great. Putting content out for
very accessible content out for cancer patients and their supports
teams to be able to use.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
Yeah, we've had a long time partnership with YUSA Lives
Strong at the Why, and we wanted to expand that
to make sure that everybody understands how to exercise and
work with patients who are coming out of treatment. Because,
like I said earlier, your body's not the same treatment.
Treatment and cancer are not kind, and there are long
term side effects. We know that if you move, you
(26:14):
are five times less likely to pass away in those
first five years following treatment than if you don't. Wow
and moving, just like stand up off the couch five times,
walk to the mailbox. Really, it's not about you have
to run a marathon, right.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
And talking about the first responders and the work you've
done there, it sounds like you're just getting started, like
you're in the first inning, and it's really exciting. And
thank you so much for supporting the nine to eleven
community here in New York and beyond, because I think
that race actually started. The ride starts in Boston, U
say it does.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
It starts in It starts in Boston, it ends in
New York. It's five days, three hundred and forty three miles,
one mile for every firefighter who ran in that day
and did not run out. We've got there'll be five
hundred writers. About half of those will be first responders
firefighters that are joining us. We do still have some
spots available if you want to join us, get your
(27:07):
cycling shoes on, and we're coming.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
All of these fantastic events that happen nationwide. How can
people learn more about the events and maybe even sign up?
Speaker 3 (27:16):
Yeah, so for the nine to eleven Ride, you can
go to nine to eleven Ride dot org. You can
jump on to livestrong dot org and go to events
how to get involved, and you can see all the
events that we're doing all across the country, from marathons
to cycling events. Will be in Colorado doing the Leadville
one hundred, all types of things.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
Wow CEO, as you should know today is powered by iHeartRadio.
And we're here what Suzanne Stone, President's CEO of Livestrong,
And we're coming up on our clothes and I'd like
to give you an opportunity. Is there something maybe that
you thought about during our recording today that we didn't
get to and that you'd like to let our listeners
know about.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
I think mostly I just want everybody to know that
if it's your friend, your coworker, your next door neighbor,
your spouse, just because you're not the patient doesn't mean
that you haven't been affected by cancer. You also deserve
support and deserve help. We're here for that. Nobody faces
(28:21):
cancer alone and Livestrong is here to make sure of that.
When you think about our iconic yellow wristband, which by
the way, are still for sale, They're a dollar. They
will always be a dollar. Please do not, please do
not buy the fake ones. Don't go on eBay, you
can just come to livestrong dot org will sell you one.
Please don't buy the fake ones. But the wriskband isn't
(28:41):
a fashion statement. It's that outward symbol of saying hey,
I'm oh, yeah you too. It's an open door to
a conversation. That's silence that says we're here for you.
I can support you too. You're not alone in this.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
So I think the it's.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
Really important for everybody to remember that just because we
say cancer out loud now like we did not thirty
years ago. Just because we say cancer out loud doesn't
mean that a meal train is enough.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
It's not enough. It's a great start, but it.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
Doesn't answer all of the things that come that once
that ecosystem is shattered. The strongest here for you, no
matter how you're impacted by cancer.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
I wanted to offer business owners, entrepreneurs, young CEOs that
might be listening an opportunity to follow you personally and
do you have a blog or do you share with
the world you know what's going on and Susanne's head today.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
That's a scary thing. Yes, I absolutely do. So you
can find me on LinkedIn. That's where I live most
of the time. I'm pretty easy to find on LinkedIn.
I also have a sub stack really passionate about this
sector of work, call it the nonprofit sector. I argue
that we need to change that language. That's just how
(30:05):
the irs sees us, but that's not what we do.
We're we're social impact organizations. And so my personal, a
personal kind of other side passion is to make sure
that those of us in this line of work and
in this sector work hard to reframe the stories that
we're telling, and we also have to change the way
we're running our organizations so we continue to be sustainable today.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
Yeah, it sounds like you've got a lot of relationships
and constituents that you're going to be doing that work
with and continuing to make the strides. It's been such
a pleasure, pleasure Suzanne, thank you for coming to New York,
thank you for joining us, and SEEO as you should know,
and good luck with the race with nine to eleven
and everything else on the upcoming years and with the
thirtieth anniversary coming up.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
Thanks so much for having me, and I'll get your bike.
You're ready, you just let me know. Yeah, thanks so
much for having me. It's been great, awesome.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
Thank you.
We're here with Suzanne Stone, president and CEO of Livestrong
on CEOs you should know powered by iHeartRadio. Suzanne, Welcome,
Thanks so much, great to be here, so happy to
have you here. Thanks for making the trip from Austin.
I know you have business in New York, but what
we wanted to do was sit down and learn a
little bit more about you, the CEO behind Livestrong, and
(00:21):
about Livestrong itself. You began your career in television, and
you even earned a regional Emmy from your work. What
motivated your transition from media into mission driven nonprofit leadership.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Yeah, it's interesting. I was.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
I came out of school and I went to TCU
go Frogs and came out of school, went right into
television production.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
And what I learned there is the.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Art of storytelling, and that's what I really wanted to do.
I loved connecting with people, even then, and in my twenties,
I didn't really know. You don't know much right about
life at all, but I really loved getting to know people.
I got to travel the state a lot and the
state of Texas a lot, and meet people from all over.
I moved to Chicago and continued my work in production there,
(01:10):
and then I took a job working for a public
access television station. And you'll remember Wayne's World, or you know,
if you're too young for Wayne's wor old you you
can chat, you can chat it, you can google it.
But public Access was truly the mother of YouTube. And
I started working there and it was really my first
(01:31):
foray into this section of you know, nonprofit work. I
really hadn't been exposed to that prior. And what I
learned was that I was teaching people how to do
something I knew how to do. Then I didn't feel
complicated to me, but I taught them how to, you know,
use lights in a microphone, tell their stories, edit together
(01:54):
the piece that they wanted to and then we put
it on the air for free, because you know, we
just had the old television then, and we put it
on the air for free. And what I found was
that people's lives changed because of something I taught some
people and a show we put on. So there was
a gentleman who was a lawyer and he he did
(02:16):
his show called It's the Law I think was the
name of the title of it. And because his show
is on every week, I don't know what it was,
you know, Wednesdays at seven pm or whatever the regular
time slot for him was. People started calling him more
and he became the expert in this area of law,
(02:37):
and his life changed because of something I did, you know, indirectly,
but that was That was the moment when I realized
that I really loved this idea of not just connecting
with people, but doing something with them that impacted their
lives in a positive way.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Incredible. I like to dive a little bit deeper there.
From your ex experiences with the public access television, I'm
also told coaching college basketball. These experiences are like nutrients
that helped form leadership. How did they help form leadership
for you into becoming the leader you are today?
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Absolutely?
Speaker 3 (03:16):
You know. Our career path obviously is never linear, right
Like it looks like this crazy line that has no
directions sometimes and if you're young and you're listening, it's
okay if you're doing a job that you had no
intent of doing. My coaching job, I accidentally, quite accidentally
(03:36):
became the head coach of a women's junior college basketball
team in Schenectady, New York. Oh wow, I was I
was running I was the executive director of a public
access station. But I needed more money, and so I
needed a second job. And back then the newspaper was
still a thing, and I saw a want to add
(03:58):
for an assistant that basketball coach at this college. And
I'd played my whole life. I love the sport, and
I was like, Oh, I could do that assistant. That
probably is pretty easy. I never even met the head coach.
Two weeks later I got hired because I think nobody
else applied for the job. And then the athletic director
called and said, well, you know, the head coach has quit.
(04:21):
I need you to be the head coach. So for
some crazy reason, I said yes. But taking on roles
like that, I think in a a couple of things happened.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
One I stretched a lot like.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Trusted myself, just said yes and said I'll figure it
out along the way. I can do this, right, I
can do this. So first I learned to have a
little bit of faith in myself that I can do
these things. I can do this coaching specifically, Wow, what
a path to leadership. I thought I was there to
teach these young women a motion offense and how to
(04:58):
transition a fast break. No I was there to guide
these young women through the hardest times of their life
and get them from a junior college to a four
year degree, to get them out of this school and
into a four year school where they could advance their life.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
That's what I was there for.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
And the relationships that I built, they taught me more
than I ever taught them. So I think when you
when I look back on my life and my career,
coaching was coaching those young women. We never had ten players,
by the way, we never did. Sometimes we would end
the game with four on the floor and it was tremendous.
(05:41):
It was a lesson in resilience. It was a lesson
in how people are so diverse and you have to
be ready to listen to everybody, even when you can't
understand them initially. You've got to really listen, really listen.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
That's great, Thank you so much for sharing. We're here
with Susanstone, our president and CEO of Live Strong. On
CEOs you should know, want to shift some of our
discussion to Live Strong. Can you tell me about the
first moment that you engaged with Live Strong and maybe
like that first date that you had with the organization
(06:17):
and how that made you feel absolutely.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
So I was working.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
I'd made my way to Austin, and I was the
executive director of Susan g Coman in Austin and grew
that to east in central Texas. So if you haven't
been to Texas, essentially I call it the East Coast,
so the hill country and kind of the east coast
of Texas.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Right.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
And because I am an active learner, I want to learn.
I want to know more. How can I do this
job better? How can I change things? How can we
impact more people. I did everything I needed to do
to get to know the CEO of Livestrong at the time,
because we were proximates, so Livestrong was started in Austin.
(07:03):
I was living in Austin. It was pretty easy for
me to eventually be in the same room with him.
So I got to know him, kind of made him
have lunch with me about every quarter and he picked
up the phone one day and called me. I remember
exactly where I was. I was in my apartment and
he said, Suzanne, I need somebody to come in and
(07:30):
really be my number two. I need somebody to come
in and evaluate our mission programs. I really want to
look at strategy and say how can we move this
organization forward? And I think you're the right person.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
To do it.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Wow, how did that make you feel?
Speaker 3 (07:43):
It made me feel amazing, like I'm sorry me, did
you call the right person?
Speaker 2 (07:50):
It was really great.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
So I joined Livestrong in twenty nineteen, righte pre pandemic
had the opportunity. It was a great opportunity for me
to come into an organization like Livestrong and deeply understand
the mission work that we were doing.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
It was four years working.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
There in that role before he retired and the board
decided to do that big search, which they always should,
and they did that. I served as interim and helped
them interview other people.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
And ended up getting the job.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
That's great and I.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Couldn't be more honored and excited to be here.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Wow, that is such an incredible story. And I can
tell with your passion and your emotion just how much
the position means to you. Let's talk about that position
and your leadership, especially joining the organization in twenty nineteen.
And then, hello, Suzanne, here's the pandemic to deal with.
Let's talk about how you foster innovation while staying grounded
(08:56):
to the deep human needs of the cancer survivors and
their family. How do you do it all?
Speaker 2 (09:03):
I'll tell you it's difficult only in the it's difficult in.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
The respect that when you're leading, or you're in front
of a laptop right or you're on the telephone, it
can be very easy to be disconnected from people looking
at them and really feeling who they are. So I've
really intentionally made sure that all of the time, every
single week, if not daily, I'm on the phone or
(09:32):
an email thread, I'm having lunch with I'm going to
see people who we impact every day, building relationships with
people one on one, understanding people who've been a part
of the Live Strong family for a very long time.
Will be thirty in nineteen ninety, in twenty twenty seven,
so some of the people that I know now have
(09:53):
been a part of the Live Strong family.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
For literally almost thirty years.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
Meeting them remind me of what I need to do
every day, and that that email I'm sending, that grant application,
I'm writing, whatever that is, is having real impact on
their life today, tomorrow and maybe their children's lives ten
years from now. So I think it's really important to
continue to always build those relationships outside of the office. Yeah,
(10:22):
got to get out. So I'm in New York because, yeah,
because I need to be here. I need to see
what's happening. So when it comes to innovation, I think
it's important to understand how everybody receives resources from a
live strong perspective. That's the thing one of the things
I'm super proud about. We are think about if cancer
(10:44):
is in your life, the first thing that happens, you
leave the doctor's office, you tell somebody, and everybody hits Google. Right,
Everybody's going online and researching, and what they're hearing are
Facebook facts, Applesite or vinegar or cures and you can't
trust so much of what you're reading. How do you
(11:04):
know if this is real or not? And so it
was very clear to me in that early mission work
that I did, which is why that piece of my
journey here at Lifstrong was so important, that we needed
to be that trusted resource and trusted meaning that I'm
going to provide you information that I would provide my
loved ones, fact based, science based What you do with
(11:27):
that information, though, that's up to you. We improve Our
goal is to improve the quality of life for anyone
affected by cancer. But I'm not going to prescribe what
that quality of life looks like for you, because it
may be different than it would be for me. But
what I we're going to do is make sure that
that information you can trust. So when it comes to innovation,
(11:48):
I not only have to give you trusted information, I've
got to deliver it in a way that you want
to receive it. My twenty six year old has no
interest in reading a physical book. He's read lots of books,
He's got a master's degree smart, but if you put
a physical book in front of him, what.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Does he do with that?
Speaker 3 (12:04):
Your kids right, same thing. So we created the first
AI powered cancer survivorship companion.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Her name is Ellis.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Ellis Ellis is great.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
So the first question I always get is why ellis
so Live strong LS and then just say it Ellis.
One of our tech team actually came up with that name,
but it built Ellis as that innovative first step of
saying we have to be there no matter where the
(12:37):
person is, and be ready to interact with people the
way they're interacting with information today and tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
We can't wait. We can't.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
I'm going to mail you a guide book, and so
that takes how long you got diagnosed yesterday and it's
going to take a week or so for you to
get this book. You'll already be emotional, not super logical,
and it takes time for that information to come in.
But with this app with Ellis, we're able to interact
(13:07):
on the desktop. You're able to interact on the app
on your phone and have full on conversations just like
you would with Chad or Claude or any LLM.
Speaker 1 (13:15):
Right, that's great. You had mentioned people Google search to
get information. I wanted to just let the people know
how to learn more about you.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
Absolutely, so it's really easy. Livestrong dot org best place
to go. We're on YouTube. You can see lots of
great exercise videos on YouTube that we do for if
you're recovering. We've got resources. Everything is free on our
site livestrong dot org. Easy to find us there. We're
on LinkedIn, We're on Facebook, Instagram, all the places perfect,
(13:47):
just at livestrong, easy to find us.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
With that, how do you as a leader as a
CEO and how can you educate young CEOs that are
listening to drive innovation and to drive people to continue
to evolve of the business and the organization, because that
is so important as a leader, that you get people
to believe and do remarkable things like the creation of ELTs.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
I think it's one of the hardest things.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
What I would say and what I say to our
team that we have to be just as brave as
the person who's fighting cancer is that's remarkable. You have
to be brave. What the cost of not doing it
is so high, the cost of not trying so high.
(14:31):
Our our team culture is fail fast. But we've got
to fail because you never get you never get to
yes without collecting the nose. You never get to success
without failure. So really my advice would be adopt that
entrepreneurial mindset that we see in the social impact space.
(14:52):
We don't do that enough. Take that, put on that
entrepreneurial hat. What would what would you do if you
were developing a widget? Yep, you would try it would fail. Okay,
the world didn't end right, try again, improve again, And
so you have to be you have to be brave.
It's not always easy. Nobody wants to fail. Everybody wants
(15:13):
to say that they got it right the first time.
But that's just that's just not the case. It's never
going to happen, So it's okay. It goes back to
those early lessons that I learned.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Yeah, that's amazing, you can do this. One of my
son's hockey coaches made a comment to my son that
I use with my leadership with my team is similar
to what you're saying, Suzanne. He said, Jackson, I'm okay
with you making mistakes, but let's start making new ones.
(15:43):
Meaning you've learned and you've moved on from that moment
and now you're trying something new and something innovative.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
Absolutely, if you use, if you use as long as
you are, you are looking at the problem beforehand, coming
up with a solution, and then really evaluating. We are
right now, our team is in the middle of a
thirty day sprint, and every five days we're evaluating did
this work? Where is the trajectory the direction that we
(16:10):
need it to be. And if so, let's keep doing that.
But if it's not, then we need to pivot, So
pivot quickly.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
Thanks for everyone tuning into CEOs. You should know powered
by iHeartRadio. I want to talk about three decades, I
mean thirty years to be in an organization and to
be they are helping cancer patients and their support teams,
their families. What's changed with the mission from maybe when
you started in twenty nineteen to the direction that you're
(16:39):
going as you enter your thirtieth anniversary, or as the
mission stayed the same?
Speaker 3 (16:45):
Our mission has primarily stayed the same since the very beginning,
since nineteen ninety seven, it's evolved the way that the
world has evolved. So it has always been patient centered care.
How do we ensure sure that people who are experiencing cancer,
and that's not just the patient right, but it's survivorship.
(17:06):
We lifstrong created what is now called survivorship and cancer care.
That word didn't exist before nineteen ninety seven happened today.
There are patient navigators thanks in a large part of
what the organization did back then. They're patient navigators in
every oncology office. So we don't need to do that.
(17:27):
We used to have to do that, but we don't
need to duplicate services. So the way that the organization
has evolved is we've actually worked on putting ourselves out
of business in certain areas of the mission. But until
the last person who has experienced cancer passes away, the
Mission will continue even if they found a cure. Today,
(17:49):
Like right now we walk out of the studio, the
news of the day breaking headlines, you know there's a
cure for cancer. The fact is we've got eighteen million
people living in the United States today who've all already
had cancer. They've already gone through treatment. Their physical bodies,
their emotional minds will never be the same, and their
ecosystems will never be the same either. So there are
(18:11):
still all of those people that will need to serve.
How we do it changes, just like ellis right, how
we deliver those services. It's so important for us to
evolve fast, really quickly, to keep up with how people
are consuming information today. Our mission continues to be to
(18:32):
improve the quality of life for everyone affected by cancer,
the patient, the caregiver, the next door neighbor, the teacher,
all of the people, everybody. So from the moment of
diagnosis is where we start, the moment of diagnosis until
no evidence of disease, metastatic living with a chronic condition.
(18:53):
Seven out of ten people now who are diagnosed with
cancer are able to live five years or beyond. That
is a massive gains. We've done such great work, a
lot of great organizations focus on finding a cure and
improving therapies, and we support them wholeheartedly, but that's not
our mission.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
Right understood. Before we started our podcast today, Suzanne, we
talked a little bit about the fertility discount program. I
know that's been such an important part of your strategic roadmap.
Can you let our listeners know a little bit more
about what you're doing in the fertility world.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
In two thousand and four, Live Strong identified this gap
that was happening, and unfortunately the gap is still there,
but we're working really hard to close it. So when
somebody is diagnosed with cancer and they're of childbearing age,
so really today, that could be thirteen to forty It
depends on the individual. But if you're in childbearing age,
you're diagnosed and you have this finite amount of time
(19:52):
prior to cancer treatment beginning to decide whether or not
you want to preserve the opportunity to have children in
the few The fact is that not all treatment could
impact your fertility, but a lot of treatments do. So
you can imagine you just found out you have cancer
and now your treatment starts in thirty days, But if
(20:14):
you want to preserve your eggs. If you want to
have this opportunity to potentially have a child maybe in
the future, you're going to have to make that decision
right now. Also, the average cost for a woman going
through fertility treatment is fourteen thousand dollars.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
Who has that Nobody.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
I don't know about you, but the average person does
not have fourteen thousand sitting in savings ready to throw
at this. And also, you never know if it's going
to be successful, like this is such an emotional piece.
So we realized very early that we needed to figure
out a way to make it more affordable and also
to educate the oncologists that are happening, you know, saying, hey,
(20:57):
we've got to bring this not just to the to
the patients, but also to the oncologists. We want to
make sure they're having those conversations with their patients as
soon as they're diagnosed, especially if they fit this criteria.
So we created the Fertility Discount Program. We now have
a network of about one hundred and fifty clinics all
around the country, probably a dozen here in New York actually,
(21:20):
and they have all agreed to discount their services by
at least twenty five percent beyond that, which is substantial.
Most of them do far less than that. In fact,
sometimes we see clinics doing fifty five hundred as opposed
to fourteen thousand or more, so significant discounts. On top
of that, we've got a great partnership with a pharmaceutical company,
(21:41):
emd Serono. They provide those fertility medications for free to
those women that we're talking about forty five hundred dollars
per round. Sometimes those women are getting five rounds before beforehand.
So to date we've served over nineteen thousand patients on
thousand people preserving their fertility. We've saved them over one
(22:03):
hundred and ten million dollars. Wow, that is closing a gap.
We're now advocating for states to make ensure that insurance
companies have to cover this because insurance companies currently are
not required to cover fertility as part of cancer treatment.
That's why that cost is so high. Right now, we've
got twenty two states that have said yes, New York
(22:25):
being one of them that have said yes, private insurance
does need to cover that, which is awesome. The problem
that does still remain is that Medicaid is not a
part of that list. So really the people to do
we have more work to do. The people who need
that discount the most, we're here for them.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
Yeah, you've done such incredible work with the fertility discount program.
How can people learn more about that?
Speaker 3 (22:49):
People can learn more about the program. It's really easy
to apply. Just go to livestrong dot org. You're going
to click on resources how we help. You can actually
just google Live strong for utility and the application will
pop right up.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
Wonderful, amazing CEOs you should know today Powered by iHeartRadio.
We're proud to have Suzanne Stone, president CEO of lidge Strong.
It's been so wonderful learning more about your career and
of course the Live strong organization. What's on the horizon,
what's next? Any new developments? Can you let us know
(23:24):
what the next project might be.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
Got all kinds of great things happening, all kinds, So
we've got a you know, we've got a lot of
great things. So we're based in Austin, but you'll find
us everywhere. Yeah, from Honolulu to New York to Minnesota, Florida.
We're really all over the place. We do a lot
of work. You'll see us in events. If you're interested,
come join us on teams. We were marathons, the New
(23:50):
York Marathon, TD five, Burrough Chicago Marathon, the Disney coming
up in twenty twenty seven, Wow five K, ten K
half in full. So do lots of events like that.
One exciting event that we have coming up in honor
of September eleventh, the twenty fifth anniversaries this September, which
is hard to believe, is one of the new and
(24:12):
I bring it up because one of the new initiatives
that we have as we've really recognized that there's a
big gap for first responders. First responders are nine percent
more likely to be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime,
fourteen percent more likely to die from that.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
Oh my goodness, there's reasons for that.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
We have to do a better job of providing resources
for this community. So we're doing a ride nine to eleven,
Ride for Resilience in partnership with a couple of other organizations,
Friends of Firefighters, the FDNY, Boston Fire and we are
creating resources specifically for our first responder community that they
(24:50):
can trust in. They're helping us create this, So we
want to put that in every firehouse, AMT police apartment nationwide.
So those occupational cancers which happen on the job. Right,
the bravest among us deserve for us to show up
for that.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
Son. We're going to do that.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
So you'll see some new resources coming out that are
specifically geared towards that you'll also see in coming up.
Food is Medicine, Big lots of things happening on the
nutrition front. You'll see a lot of work coming there.
And exercise Oncology. We've got a new twelve week class
that's coming out via video. You can take it. Each
week you'll get a new exercise class delivered to you
(25:33):
that is appropriate for somebody who's just come out of treatment.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
Wow, that's incredible. You guys are busy.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
We're busy. I didn't even name all the things, but yes.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
That exercise Elements sounds really great. Putting content out for
very accessible content out for cancer patients and their supports
teams to be able to use.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
Yeah, we've had a long time partnership with YUSA Lives
Strong at the Why, and we wanted to expand that
to make sure that everybody understands how to exercise and
work with patients who are coming out of treatment. Because,
like I said earlier, your body's not the same treatment.
Treatment and cancer are not kind, and there are long
term side effects. We know that if you move, you
(26:14):
are five times less likely to pass away in those
first five years following treatment than if you don't. Wow
and moving, just like stand up off the couch five times,
walk to the mailbox. Really, it's not about you have
to run a marathon, right.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
And talking about the first responders and the work you've
done there, it sounds like you're just getting started, like
you're in the first inning, and it's really exciting. And
thank you so much for supporting the nine to eleven
community here in New York and beyond, because I think
that race actually started. The ride starts in Boston, U
say it does.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
It starts in It starts in Boston, it ends in
New York. It's five days, three hundred and forty three miles,
one mile for every firefighter who ran in that day
and did not run out. We've got there'll be five
hundred writers. About half of those will be first responders
firefighters that are joining us. We do still have some
spots available if you want to join us, get your
(27:07):
cycling shoes on, and we're coming.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
All of these fantastic events that happen nationwide. How can
people learn more about the events and maybe even sign up?
Speaker 3 (27:16):
Yeah, so for the nine to eleven Ride, you can
go to nine to eleven Ride dot org. You can
jump on to livestrong dot org and go to events
how to get involved, and you can see all the
events that we're doing all across the country, from marathons
to cycling events. Will be in Colorado doing the Leadville
one hundred, all types of things.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
Wow CEO, as you should know today is powered by iHeartRadio.
And we're here what Suzanne Stone, President's CEO of Livestrong,
And we're coming up on our clothes and I'd like
to give you an opportunity. Is there something maybe that
you thought about during our recording today that we didn't
get to and that you'd like to let our listeners
know about.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
I think mostly I just want everybody to know that
if it's your friend, your coworker, your next door neighbor,
your spouse, just because you're not the patient doesn't mean
that you haven't been affected by cancer. You also deserve
support and deserve help. We're here for that. Nobody faces
(28:21):
cancer alone and Livestrong is here to make sure of that.
When you think about our iconic yellow wristband, which by
the way, are still for sale, They're a dollar. They
will always be a dollar. Please do not, please do
not buy the fake ones. Don't go on eBay, you
can just come to livestrong dot org will sell you one.
Please don't buy the fake ones. But the wriskband isn't
(28:41):
a fashion statement. It's that outward symbol of saying hey,
I'm oh, yeah you too. It's an open door to
a conversation. That's silence that says we're here for you.
I can support you too. You're not alone in this.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
So I think the it's.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
Really important for everybody to remember that just because we
say cancer out loud now like we did not thirty
years ago. Just because we say cancer out loud doesn't
mean that a meal train is enough.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
It's not enough. It's a great start, but it.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
Doesn't answer all of the things that come that once
that ecosystem is shattered. The strongest here for you, no
matter how you're impacted by cancer.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
I wanted to offer business owners, entrepreneurs, young CEOs that
might be listening an opportunity to follow you personally and
do you have a blog or do you share with
the world you know what's going on and Susanne's head today.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
That's a scary thing. Yes, I absolutely do. So you
can find me on LinkedIn. That's where I live most
of the time. I'm pretty easy to find on LinkedIn.
I also have a sub stack really passionate about this
sector of work, call it the nonprofit sector. I argue
that we need to change that language. That's just how
(30:05):
the irs sees us, but that's not what we do.
We're we're social impact organizations. And so my personal, a
personal kind of other side passion is to make sure
that those of us in this line of work and
in this sector work hard to reframe the stories that
we're telling, and we also have to change the way
we're running our organizations so we continue to be sustainable today.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
Yeah, it sounds like you've got a lot of relationships
and constituents that you're going to be doing that work
with and continuing to make the strides. It's been such
a pleasure, pleasure Suzanne, thank you for coming to New York,
thank you for joining us, and SEEO as you should know,
and good luck with the race with nine to eleven
and everything else on the upcoming years and with the
thirtieth anniversary coming up.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
Thanks so much for having me, and I'll get your bike.
You're ready, you just let me know. Yeah, thanks so
much for having me. It's been great, awesome.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
Thank you.
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