On this episode of HALO Talks, host Pete Moore sits down with Beverly Wolfer, Executive Director of Tina’s Wish, to dive into the critical topic of health literacy and the power of community-driven change. Beverly shares her journey from the world of consulting to the nonprofit sector, where she leads efforts toward early detection of ovarian cancer—a mission inspired by the legacy of Judge Tina Brozman.
Pete and Beverly explore how HALO sector leaders (health, active lifestyle, outdoors) can champion women’s health through partnership, awareness, and education. Beverly sheds light on the life-saving potential of spreading knowledge about ovarian cancer’s subtle symptoms, and explains how Tina’s Wish is building a powerful platform—“What to Know Down Below”—to bridge gaps in health literacy and empower women to advocate for themselves.
Listeners will also hear Beverly’s inspiring perspective on purposeful career pivots, the importance of giving back, and the deep meaning she finds in honoring her brother’s legacy through another nonprofit supporting American troops.
On 'solving herself' out of a job, she states, "My goal is for us to solve Tina Brozman's dying wish and to find an early detection. And I can't think of a better way to put on my next resume, you know, how to put myself out of a job. Because we solved the problem that we went into solving, right?!"
Key themes discussed
- Health literacy and gynecologic cancer awarenes.
- Importance of early detection for ovarian cancer.
- Tina’s Wish Foundation mission and impact.
- Community partnerships and fundraising in fitness spaces.
- Personal fulfillment in nonprofit career transitions.
- Honoring veterans and family legacies through service.
A few key takeaways:
1. Mission of Tina’s Wish-Early Detection for Ovarian Cancer: Tina’s Wish was founded in memory of Judge Tina Brozman, who passed away from late-diagnosed ovarian cancer. The foundation’s mission is to fund research to develop an early detection screen for ovarian cancer—a test that currently doesn’t exist. The foundation has raised $29 million since 2008, fueling innovation and bringing hope closer to reality.
2. The Power of Health Literacy and Community Education: Beverly emphasized the importance of health education, especially about gynecologic cancers and women’s health. Her organization’s “What to Know Down Below” platform and podcast series empowers women to recognize symptoms and advocate for themselves, literally saving lives through awareness and knowledge.
3. Partnership Opportunities for Health and Fitness Communities: Tina’s Wish is seeking collaborations with fitness clubs, yoga studios, and wellness businesses. Ways to get involved include co-branding materials, distributing educational decals (such as in locker room bathrooms), and participating in turnkey fundraising events—making it easy for organizations to support the cause and educate their communities.
4. Running a Nonprofit: Purpose and Professional Fulfillment: Beverly’s transition from the corporate world to nonprofit leadership was driven by a desire for purpose. While the daily work still involves tasks like HR and accounting, knowing her efforts are mission-driven makes a profound difference. She shared that her ultimate goal is to “put herself out of a job” by solving the very problem her organization was founded to address.
5. Honoring Personal Legacy and Service: Beyond her role at Tina’s Wish, Beverly runs a foundation in memory of her brother, a Jewish American soldier killed in Iraq. Her family focuses on education, awareness, and meaningful care packages for deployed soldiers, highlighting both the personal impact of service and the ongoing need to keep memories and lessons from the past alive.
Resources:
- Beverly Wolfer: https://www.linkedin.com/in/beverly-wolfer-nerenberg-38749467
- Tina's Wish: https://tinaswish.org
- What To Know Down Below podcast: https://tinaswish.org/whattoknow
- Prospect Wizard: https://www.theprospectwizard.com
- Promotion Vault: http://www.promotionvault.com
- HigherDose: http://www.higherdose.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
I am super excited to announce that we now have a formal
partnership with the Prospect Wizard. And when I say
wizard, I mean wizard. Obviously you have a website.
This allows you to convert your website traffic visitors
directly into leads. It's not just another chatbot and
it's not AI but it allows a visitor to call, text or leave a
(00:22):
voicemail immediately. Goes to you, your sales team or anyone else in the
club instantly. MIT shows a study that if you contact
the league within 10 minutes, chance of them converting goes up nine
times. That of the average. We got the Atlanta clubs
on it. Vita Fitness, Gold's Gym, Mountainside
City Fitness, Philly, College Park. Become one
(00:44):
of the next Halo companies to deploy the Wizard.
It's easy to use. Go to the prospectwizard.com
get a free 30 day trial. Talk to my boy Dave Gallen. He will get
you all set up and let the leads flow based on the
Wizard. Go get him.
This is Pete Moore on Halo Talks nyc. I have the pleasure of bringing to
(01:07):
our audience Beverly Wolfer, executive director
of Many Things on the nonprofit side. We're going to
talk today about health literacy. We're going to talk about giving back to
the community. We're going to talk about education, we're going to talk about awareness
and we're going to talk about her role in making that happen. So,
Beverly, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for having me today.
(01:30):
So I know you met Dave Ganilin at a networking event, which a lot of
people do because he attends a lot of networking events. So he is a networker
and always finds right people to to bring on the
show. So you've made a very selective screen
by Mr. Ganiel and as our chief marketing officer and executive
producer of Halo Talks. So Beverly, why don't you give
(01:51):
our audience a quick bio on yourself and then let's talk
health literacy. Sure. So I've been with Tina's wish for almost
13 years. I came at a time in my life when I was making a
career pivot. I was in the commercial management
consulting sphere with Booz Allen and Hamilton.
And I needed something where I could take all of those incredible
(02:13):
skill sets I had and take it to a new community.
And I found it here at Tina's Wish. I recognized
that I could take all of my business background because running a not for profit
is running a business as well
as the opportunity to really love coming to work every day in support of an
incredible mission. And it also allowed me to
(02:36):
continue to use some skill sets I had learned when I started my Own family
foundation to support American and American Jewish troops.
Gotcha. So talk about Tina's wish. Started in 2008
in memory of Tina Brosman, Chief Judge of
the SDNY Bankruptcy Court. What happened there?
She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. And tell us, you know,
(02:59):
what, what transpired from there and then how the foundation got set up.
Sure. So Tina Brosman was this very inspirational
jurist and unfortunately she was diagnosed
too late with ovarian cancer, which is a story we frequent.
And the story that I've heard about her is that she wasn't angry for having
ovarian cancer. She was angry that she didn't have a fighting chance against
(03:23):
the disease. And the reason for that is we don't have an early detection
screen. Women will go get a mammogram for breast cancer and a pap smear
for cervical cancer. We don't have any ovarian like test.
And so because of that and because the signs and symptoms are very benign
and frequently experienced by many women, that it
gets swept under the rug and then when it is finally diagnosed,
(03:46):
it's diagnosed. Diagnosed in late stages where the five year survival rate is
approximately 27% as opposed to stage one where it's
91%. So I think the numbers tell our story
and we aim to change those. And what was her wish?
Because she got $29 million of donations,
correct? Yeah. So today we've raised $29 million
(04:08):
and her wish is to find an early detection screen.
And I will say that since 2008 when the foundation began
making grants, we've seen both progress,
but also progress in the technology that's enabling the
researchers to get closer to fulfilling Tino's wish. Gotcha.
We're involved with Cycle for Survival, which
(04:31):
a friend of mine from business school, Jen Goodman,
Lynn, was started back in the day and they've
been raising money for sarcoma and rare cancer. So
I, I love your, your mission here and I think people should
know that if you put enough money and, and resources
towards one of these types of diseases or,
(04:54):
or detection that you are going to get to, to the
answer. And you just, you just need to be patient
with how long it takes. So talk about some of the things
that you're doing in order to get the message
across on, on health literacy. And then as, as mentioned to you
prior, you know, we've got health club operators, we got people that
(05:16):
are invested in sports complexes,
boutique studios. A number of groups are
focused on primarily women for yoga,
Pilates, bar programming.
How could they potentially either get involved as part of a
fundraiser with you, kind of like they do with the Susan,
(05:37):
you know, Coleman foundation or any kind of,
you know, like events in a box or like a fundraising kit, you know,
or like turnkey. So you could say, hey, like partner with us.
Sure. So I'll take the first part of the question. So what did we do
to address really the what what can people do
in the absence of an early detection screen? And what we realized when people
(05:59):
came to our events and that we have in person education that people were
walking away with new knowledge. We've already to date have three
women come to us that because they came to our event, learned about signs and
symptom, they were actually took action and
one was diagnosed in stage one and one in stage three of ovarian
cancer. So we know we changed the trajectory of their lives. But how
(06:21):
do we get our message out to a much broader audience? We
created what we call a whole education and awareness
platform called what to Know Down Below. And one
of the components of that is a podcast series.
I urge anyone to go onto any of the podcast channels and download
what to Know Down Below. We do have a heavy focus on
(06:43):
ovarian cancer, but we've also been expanding it to other
gynecologic conditions. So whether it's the other gynecologic
cancers, whether it's about menopause, perimenopause,
ovarian cancer, cysts, endometriosis, et cetera, how
to advocate for yourself as a patient. So we're really
trying to bridge the gap with what you alluded to earlier, which is really a
(07:04):
dearth of health literacy amongst our community.
And so we hope that people will take advantage of it. You asked me about
how could people listeners get involved. So we'd love to
partner with any of your audience members, whether it's
co branding the materials, having materials available in
the gyms or yoga studios or
(07:27):
Pilates studios, as well as we are creating
decals to go on the back of bathroom stalls. So that amazing
idea for stadiums and other
studios. And we're just looking to partner with like
minded individuals who want to share this education and awareness with
their communities. So Beverly, you know, are there any.
(07:50):
Can we find or are there already people that are in the
fitness industry that are influencers, maybe
someone, something that can be generated from our audience here listening
to this podcast that have had these conditions, took
action at the right time with, with enough, you know,
years ahead for this to proliferate where they've taken action and,
(08:13):
and they could also be kind of like a, you know, mouthpiece for, for
this in our industry or the halo sector, health, active lifestyle
outdoors, which we use, maybe that's something that, that would be a, a
nice consequence of, of putting this out there. So if anyone in our audience
knows of someone that has had any kind of ovarian cancer and they got it
diagnosed and then treated properly, that'll be helpful to get to us. So
(08:36):
we can use that as part of our marketing, obviously, if they're comfortable
with it. So, Beverly, how, how have you seen
some of the traction that you get when you partner with
local, you know, called mom and pop operators or any kind of
chains that say, look, this is what we're getting behind?
(08:57):
Sure. So we've seen a few different things. One is they've
sometimes chosen to do, let's say, like a smaller fundraiser for us
locally within their own community. And then while they're doing
it, whether it's like a kind of like a cycle for survival kind of
activity or just a class that's being dedicated in honor
of Tina's wish, we then also provide the materials to them to also
(09:20):
share with their attendees. And so as we all know,
you know, people like to do activities that they're passionate about and
they like to do them for a good cause. So if you can combine the
two together and we always see it as a win, win. And I think you
mentioned earlier, like, do we have a, you know, kit
in a box? And yes, we are happy to send things out to people and
(09:40):
also send things electronically. And we found that to be really
effective.
This is Pete Moore. I want to let you in on a little secret. There's
this company called Promotion Vault. And what they do is they give. Out rewards
from retailers that allow you to incentivize your
members without having to do zero down and one month free
(10:04):
or giving away shakes or giving away T shirts. What you want to
do is build a rewards program that lasts, that people value
and that doesn't discount your own products and services. So here's the
deal. There's something called Rewards Vault. The Rewards Vault is going
to allow. A member to set up their own profile. They are going
to answer questions. You are going to get those answers. You're going to be able
(10:26):
to target those members and you're going to reward them inside your
club, inside your spa, and outside of the club and outside
of the spa to get them to become loyal, to get them to pay
their monthly dues and to be rewarded properly
for the actions. A lot of companies are cutting back on Rewards, you shouldn't
be promotional. Your answer, trust me, this is real.
(10:52):
So. So from a standpoint, let's. Let's talk about you as
an executive and as a, you know, somebody who worked
in, you know, a big firm before and now kind of running, you
know, a nonprofit and probably much more entrepreneurial.
How has that kind of impacted you? When you got up in
the morning? How does it impact you? Maybe, you know, you're giving up some financial
(11:15):
rewards, but you're getting other rewards. You know, I could be
working at a. An investment bank, and they wouldn't let me do a podcast like
this for compliance reasons. I also wouldn't be allowed to wear a hat.
You know, I wouldn't probably be able to go to a basketball game because
someone's like, you know, it's during the day. So how has
it kind of changed your life? And when someone, you know, questions
(11:38):
you about, like, where you took your career, it would kind of shift this
to, you know, people that actually take the leap and say,
you know what? I'm just not. I'm not who I want to be. I don't
feel like this is my purpose and I want to change and actually do something
about it. No, it's a great question. I have to
say, every day when I get up, I'm not necessarily saving
(12:00):
or impacting someone's life with the education and awareness, but
overall, because I'm still doing things like HR and accounting and an
audit and bookkeeping and, you know, working with the teams that support us and all
of those activities. But at the end of the day, I also know what the
purpose is for and why I'm doing what I'm doing. And when we
host events, I was just in D.C. last week and the week before in LA,
(12:22):
and people come up to us and are like, I had no idea about
anything you just talked to me about. And we do it in under 30 minutes.
And we. I doesn't matter. The educational level of the audience
people always leave with, always call it like a nugget of new information.
And from my perspective, at the end of the day, I tell everyone I
hire onto my team and I tell prospective donors, my goal is to put
(12:44):
myself out of a job. My goal is for us to solve
Tina Brosman's dying wish and to find an early detection.
And I can't think of a better way to
put on my next resume, you know, how to put myself out of a job.
Because we solved the problem that we went into solving, right?
Businesses are always just there, like, oh, we'll just keep doing what we're doing. But
(13:06):
we're constantly innovating, funding new science, creating new
education awareness opportunities and impacting more and more people.
And to me, that's what gets me up in the morning.
I mean, that's great. And just to get a little bit personal, because
it's our 15 year anniversary tomorrow for Integrity
(13:26):
Square. Thank you. And we've gotten,
we've got about 600 podcasts, we've got a Halo Academy. We're
trying to get this word halo out there. And I was kind of
reflecting just to give our audience a little bit of background here. It's appropriate to
do it based on what you just said is like, I feel like I'm pretty
close to like accomplishing my mission. Where there's been a lot of money
(13:48):
that's been invested in the health club and the halo sector
over the last 15 years. There's a company that was 17
clubs back in 2012
that we sold to a private equity group. It's now 115
locations. It's gone from 10 of EBITDA to
110 of EBITDA. It's opened up another
(14:11):
100 locations that 8,000 people
work out at. So it's 800,000 people that have a health club membership now, I
think is the math maybe even more. Is that right, Dave? By doing
100 just real quick. Yeah, it's about 8,
000 members per club to
8 million actually. Dude, not 800. Email people have a
(14:32):
fitness facility that they work at. So I'm thinking like
to you saying like, hey, I want to shut down. I want to get take
myself out of a job. It's such like a powerful thing to be able to
say that you want to do because you had a mission and it might actually
just be eradicated. Like it's not an issue anymore. So I
ask people here on our audience to think about if you were to be able
(14:54):
to put yourself out of a job and actually go and do something else
that, that needs you because you'll take your skill set and you'll say, okay, what's
the next problem? Like who's, who's the next Tina and what was her wish and
who hasn't solved that? So I applaud you for thinking
that way and actually articulating that way because there's nothing better than saying like, hey,
I finished what I needed to do and now I'm going to go do something
(15:15):
else on our anniversary. I'm
thinking like, I'm almost like at that point Where, Dave, thanks to you
and me and everybody else, like, we're getting close to, like,
the seventh inning of this thing. So anyway, just want to
add that in. So thank you for letting me do that. Based on what you
said, that pinched me in a certain way. So
(15:37):
as you look forward, you've also got another foundation
that you run related to your brother
who was killed in Iraq. And there aren't that many. I
mean, I'm sure there are several thousand Jewish Americans that
are still in the Army. Thankfully, I didn't have to go. You
know, it's one of the blessings, I guess, of being born in this era where
(15:59):
there was like a cold war, no one had to actually go in there. So
talk about your brother's decision to join the army,
which I don't know if my Jewish mother would be like, that's a great career
choice, Pete. Like, you should really go and fight for the country. So
how did that transpire? Sure. So my brother, when
he went to WashU in St. Louis, made the decision to join
(16:20):
ROTC Reserve Officers Training Course. And that
was in 1989. And
my dad was in the reserves. He was. Did not fight active duty during
Vietnam. But being. But our
grandparents definitely served in World War II. My brother. And
so my brother joined ROTC at Wash U. He graduated as a second
(16:42):
lieutenant in 93. And they didn't need active duty
troops. Right. This was pre 9 11. And so we stayed in the
reserves. And then it wasn't until 2005
that my brother was called to active duty in Kuwait. And then he was
called back in 2000, 2005 to Kuwait and
2008 to Baghdad. So he's a year. She's a year older than
(17:04):
me. I went to Emory, which basically like the wash U. Of St.
Louis vs. Emory in Atlanta. So
I never even thought about joining. I don't even know if they had it there.
But quite a. Quite a decision for him to be making.
It really was. And you know, during all that time and even when he went
away to Kuwait in, oh, five, he was married. He had one
(17:27):
child when he left to go to Kuwait. And his second child was born
when he was in Kuwait. And he didn't hold her, my niece, until
she was eight months old. And so I always tell people think about
the sacrifices even beyond the ultimate sacrifice my brother paid.
But it's really a family commitment to
our country, to upholding our values
(17:50):
and to doing something truly selfless. I mean, as you were. And I were both
saying. You were saying about how you've started this business, I've gone into the
not for profit. We also, we get to make those choices.
But once you make a commitment to the military, you can't just back
out, you know, my brother's first deployment was for
13 months and then his second deployment when he went to
(18:12):
Baghdad. He would only been there three months when he was killed by an
incoming missile that we know came and was funded by Iran.
Wow. It's crazy. So what's the, what's the nonprofit there
surrounding and what are you trying to do to, you know,
basically like support his memory and what he
quote, unquote, his wish? Correct. So my mom is very fond
(18:34):
of saying that we're my brother's memory keepers. And so we're
determined to keep his legacy alive, not only for his
children, my children, but really our greater community. Because as you
said, you don't know very many people that have served, let alone an American
Jewish soldier. And so we also didn't
want to simply be an Amazon fulfillment center. So we also do
(18:57):
education and awareness programming, whether it's for Veterans Day, Memorial Day,
or throughout the year with schools, community groups, churches,
synagogues, et cetera, for both children and adults. And
there's always then a call to action, and we make care packages that we then
send overseas to our deployed troops to let them know that there's people at
home that are thinking of them beyond their mom and dad. Foreign.
(19:21):
This is Pete Moore. Here's the last tip for you of the podcast.
We are partnered up with a company called higher dose
higherdose.com they are the leader in
workout recovery products. Infrared technology,
LED light masks, neck enhancers, and
other products such as PEMF mats and sauna
(19:43):
blankets. If you have not gotten on the workout
recovery train yet, your time and your stop
is now. You got to get these products in there before these workout
recovery and spas end up saturating your market.
Having your members walk out of the club and going into one of their locations
for 200 bucks per month where they're paying 39 to
(20:05):
you. Let's become an expert in workout recovery. If we
are already an authority in. Workouts, Higher dose,
check it out. There's a wholesale code and we look.
Forward to helping you augment your products. And services
to meet the demands of your members. And hey, let's get people
happy, healthy and sweating. And the recovery should be
(20:27):
just as good as the workout.
Did you watch that movie about the. The women
that basically like got all the mail to the. What was it called again? I
just saw It. I just saw it as well. It was such an incredible movie.
I knew nothing about that unit. Can you find out what the
(20:47):
name of that was? It was on his Oscar
award. I don't know if. Oscar, Academy Awards. Yeah. It was great.
About all the African American women that were basically deployed to get through the
mail to make sure it got to the soldiers. And it was like they took
over, like, an old church or they took over, like, an old
school or something. And, like, had, like, this awesome, like, assembly line. They were figuring
(21:09):
everything out. Got it out, like, six months. They're basically, like, set up there to
fail and succeeded.
The one thing that I. I've been thinking about lately, because of my grandparents, my
grandfather passed away, like, 20 years ago, and I. I wrote up this,
like, top 10 list. And he, like. He's probably the only guy who, like, had
all of his grandchildren sequentially, like, in a car where he fell asleep on, like,
(21:31):
the Meadowbrook Parkway and, like, got him home safely. You know, it's crazy stuff, but,
like, the boat. The biggest thing he did was he got,
you know, from Odessa to come to America. Like, it's the most important thing that
you ever did instead of, like, this chain of events. Do you think right
now there's, like, harder to keep people's memory
alive because there's so much social media and there's so much. You're
(21:53):
inundated with so much information that people don't really take as much
time to remember the past because there's so much in, like,
being inundated with information that they don't make time for that. It's one of the
things that's been bothering me personally. It's actually a
great question. I mean, I definitely think. Right. It's like, whatever comes through your
feed, that's what's on top of mind. Present. But
(22:15):
interesting. When I do post about my brother and I do post about the
programs, the engagement that I get is tremendous. And
I think that comes from the fact that people are proud
to be American and they don't know how to
demonstrate that. Yeah, true. So when I provide an opportunity
for them to come to an event or to write a letter or to bring
(22:37):
me into their community, they actually are really excited and proud to do
that. And so it becomes a twofold. Not
only can I honor and remember my brother, but then we get to engage and
hear about other people's stories as well. Of service.
That's great. Well, it's been a pleasure talking to you. I love what you're doing
and your mission and hope you accomplish your mission,
(23:00):
you know, in due course. So you could go take on another mission and challenge
that you will succeed at fulfilling with. Your brother succeeded his
mission, obviously, as well during his time there and
the seat of what happened. So we'll get all the
information out. Maybe we can sync up after the podcast launches,
try and target a couple of fitness studios that are
(23:22):
primarily women's communities, that are
age appropriate that we could do some testing with and from
our audience. I'd love to see if we can find a couple of people who've
had ovarian cancer detection early that would be able
to to be a mouthpiece and an advocate for this,
because it would be a shame to have people learn about this later in life
(23:43):
and know that if we had just one, you know,
piece of information that gets to them as an aha moment, that this just
doesn't have to happen to other people. So thanks for everything you do, Beverly, and
thanks for coming on Halo Talks. Thanks for having me and happy anniversary.
Thank you. Appreciate that.
(24:18):
Sa.
I am super excited to announce that we now have a formal
partnership with the Prospect Wizard. And when I say
wizard, I mean wizard. Obviously you have a website.
This allows you to convert your website traffic visitors
directly into leads. It's not just another chatbot and
it's not AI but it allows a visitor to call, text or leave a
(00:22):
voicemail immediately. Goes to you, your sales team or anyone else in the
club instantly. MIT shows a study that if you contact
the league within 10 minutes, chance of them converting goes up nine
times. That of the average. We got the Atlanta clubs
on it. Vita Fitness, Gold's Gym, Mountainside
City Fitness, Philly, College Park. Become one
(00:44):
of the next Halo companies to deploy the Wizard.
It's easy to use. Go to the prospectwizard.com
get a free 30 day trial. Talk to my boy Dave Gallen. He will get
you all set up and let the leads flow based on the
Wizard. Go get him.
This is Pete Moore on Halo Talks nyc. I have the pleasure of bringing to
(01:07):
our audience Beverly Wolfer, executive director
of Many Things on the nonprofit side. We're going to
talk today about health literacy. We're going to talk about giving back to
the community. We're going to talk about education, we're going to talk about awareness
and we're going to talk about her role in making that happen. So,
Beverly, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for having me today.
(01:30):
So I know you met Dave Ganilin at a networking event, which a lot of
people do because he attends a lot of networking events. So he is a networker
and always finds right people to to bring on the
show. So you've made a very selective screen
by Mr. Ganiel and as our chief marketing officer and executive
producer of Halo Talks. So Beverly, why don't you give
(01:51):
our audience a quick bio on yourself and then let's talk
health literacy. Sure. So I've been with Tina's wish for almost
13 years. I came at a time in my life when I was making a
career pivot. I was in the commercial management
consulting sphere with Booz Allen and Hamilton.
And I needed something where I could take all of those incredible
(02:13):
skill sets I had and take it to a new community.
And I found it here at Tina's Wish. I recognized
that I could take all of my business background because running a not for profit
is running a business as well
as the opportunity to really love coming to work every day in support of an
incredible mission. And it also allowed me to
(02:36):
continue to use some skill sets I had learned when I started my Own family
foundation to support American and American Jewish troops.
Gotcha. So talk about Tina's wish. Started in 2008
in memory of Tina Brosman, Chief Judge of
the SDNY Bankruptcy Court. What happened there?
She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. And tell us, you know,
(02:59):
what, what transpired from there and then how the foundation got set up.
Sure. So Tina Brosman was this very inspirational
jurist and unfortunately she was diagnosed
too late with ovarian cancer, which is a story we frequent.
And the story that I've heard about her is that she wasn't angry for having
ovarian cancer. She was angry that she didn't have a fighting chance against
(03:23):
the disease. And the reason for that is we don't have an early detection
screen. Women will go get a mammogram for breast cancer and a pap smear
for cervical cancer. We don't have any ovarian like test.
And so because of that and because the signs and symptoms are very benign
and frequently experienced by many women, that it
gets swept under the rug and then when it is finally diagnosed,
(03:46):
it's diagnosed. Diagnosed in late stages where the five year survival rate is
approximately 27% as opposed to stage one where it's
91%. So I think the numbers tell our story
and we aim to change those. And what was her wish?
Because she got $29 million of donations,
correct? Yeah. So today we've raised $29 million
(04:08):
and her wish is to find an early detection screen.
And I will say that since 2008 when the foundation began
making grants, we've seen both progress,
but also progress in the technology that's enabling the
researchers to get closer to fulfilling Tino's wish. Gotcha.
We're involved with Cycle for Survival, which
(04:31):
a friend of mine from business school, Jen Goodman,
Lynn, was started back in the day and they've
been raising money for sarcoma and rare cancer. So
I, I love your, your mission here and I think people should
know that if you put enough money and, and resources
towards one of these types of diseases or,
(04:54):
or detection that you are going to get to, to the
answer. And you just, you just need to be patient
with how long it takes. So talk about some of the things
that you're doing in order to get the message
across on, on health literacy. And then as, as mentioned to you
prior, you know, we've got health club operators, we got people that
(05:16):
are invested in sports complexes,
boutique studios. A number of groups are
focused on primarily women for yoga,
Pilates, bar programming.
How could they potentially either get involved as part of a
fundraiser with you, kind of like they do with the Susan,
(05:37):
you know, Coleman foundation or any kind of,
you know, like events in a box or like a fundraising kit, you know,
or like turnkey. So you could say, hey, like partner with us.
Sure. So I'll take the first part of the question. So what did we do
to address really the what what can people do
in the absence of an early detection screen? And what we realized when people
(05:59):
came to our events and that we have in person education that people were
walking away with new knowledge. We've already to date have three
women come to us that because they came to our event, learned about signs and
symptom, they were actually took action and
one was diagnosed in stage one and one in stage three of ovarian
cancer. So we know we changed the trajectory of their lives. But how
(06:21):
do we get our message out to a much broader audience? We
created what we call a whole education and awareness
platform called what to Know Down Below. And one
of the components of that is a podcast series.
I urge anyone to go onto any of the podcast channels and download
what to Know Down Below. We do have a heavy focus on
(06:43):
ovarian cancer, but we've also been expanding it to other
gynecologic conditions. So whether it's the other gynecologic
cancers, whether it's about menopause, perimenopause,
ovarian cancer, cysts, endometriosis, et cetera, how
to advocate for yourself as a patient. So we're really
trying to bridge the gap with what you alluded to earlier, which is really a
(07:04):
dearth of health literacy amongst our community.
And so we hope that people will take advantage of it. You asked me about
how could people listeners get involved. So we'd love to
partner with any of your audience members, whether it's
co branding the materials, having materials available in
the gyms or yoga studios or
(07:27):
Pilates studios, as well as we are creating
decals to go on the back of bathroom stalls. So that amazing
idea for stadiums and other
studios. And we're just looking to partner with like
minded individuals who want to share this education and awareness with
their communities. So Beverly, you know, are there any.
(07:50):
Can we find or are there already people that are in the
fitness industry that are influencers, maybe
someone, something that can be generated from our audience here listening
to this podcast that have had these conditions, took
action at the right time with, with enough, you know,
years ahead for this to proliferate where they've taken action and,
(08:13):
and they could also be kind of like a, you know, mouthpiece for, for
this in our industry or the halo sector, health, active lifestyle
outdoors, which we use, maybe that's something that, that would be a, a
nice consequence of, of putting this out there. So if anyone in our audience
knows of someone that has had any kind of ovarian cancer and they got it
diagnosed and then treated properly, that'll be helpful to get to us. So
(08:36):
we can use that as part of our marketing, obviously, if they're comfortable
with it. So, Beverly, how, how have you seen
some of the traction that you get when you partner with
local, you know, called mom and pop operators or any kind of
chains that say, look, this is what we're getting behind?
(08:57):
Sure. So we've seen a few different things. One is they've
sometimes chosen to do, let's say, like a smaller fundraiser for us
locally within their own community. And then while they're doing
it, whether it's like a kind of like a cycle for survival kind of
activity or just a class that's being dedicated in honor
of Tina's wish, we then also provide the materials to them to also
(09:20):
share with their attendees. And so as we all know,
you know, people like to do activities that they're passionate about and
they like to do them for a good cause. So if you can combine the
two together and we always see it as a win, win. And I think you
mentioned earlier, like, do we have a, you know, kit
in a box? And yes, we are happy to send things out to people and
(09:40):
also send things electronically. And we found that to be really
effective.
This is Pete Moore. I want to let you in on a little secret. There's
this company called Promotion Vault. And what they do is they give. Out rewards
from retailers that allow you to incentivize your
members without having to do zero down and one month free
(10:04):
or giving away shakes or giving away T shirts. What you want to
do is build a rewards program that lasts, that people value
and that doesn't discount your own products and services. So here's the
deal. There's something called Rewards Vault. The Rewards Vault is going
to allow. A member to set up their own profile. They are going
to answer questions. You are going to get those answers. You're going to be able
(10:26):
to target those members and you're going to reward them inside your
club, inside your spa, and outside of the club and outside
of the spa to get them to become loyal, to get them to pay
their monthly dues and to be rewarded properly
for the actions. A lot of companies are cutting back on Rewards, you shouldn't
be promotional. Your answer, trust me, this is real.
(10:52):
So. So from a standpoint, let's. Let's talk about you as
an executive and as a, you know, somebody who worked
in, you know, a big firm before and now kind of running, you
know, a nonprofit and probably much more entrepreneurial.
How has that kind of impacted you? When you got up in
the morning? How does it impact you? Maybe, you know, you're giving up some financial
(11:15):
rewards, but you're getting other rewards. You know, I could be
working at a. An investment bank, and they wouldn't let me do a podcast like
this for compliance reasons. I also wouldn't be allowed to wear a hat.
You know, I wouldn't probably be able to go to a basketball game because
someone's like, you know, it's during the day. So how has
it kind of changed your life? And when someone, you know, questions
(11:38):
you about, like, where you took your career, it would kind of shift this
to, you know, people that actually take the leap and say,
you know what? I'm just not. I'm not who I want to be. I don't
feel like this is my purpose and I want to change and actually do something
about it. No, it's a great question. I have to
say, every day when I get up, I'm not necessarily saving
(12:00):
or impacting someone's life with the education and awareness, but
overall, because I'm still doing things like HR and accounting and an
audit and bookkeeping and, you know, working with the teams that support us and all
of those activities. But at the end of the day, I also know what the
purpose is for and why I'm doing what I'm doing. And when we
host events, I was just in D.C. last week and the week before in LA,
(12:22):
and people come up to us and are like, I had no idea about
anything you just talked to me about. And we do it in under 30 minutes.
And we. I doesn't matter. The educational level of the audience
people always leave with, always call it like a nugget of new information.
And from my perspective, at the end of the day, I tell everyone I
hire onto my team and I tell prospective donors, my goal is to put
(12:44):
myself out of a job. My goal is for us to solve
Tina Brosman's dying wish and to find an early detection.
And I can't think of a better way to
put on my next resume, you know, how to put myself out of a job.
Because we solved the problem that we went into solving, right?
Businesses are always just there, like, oh, we'll just keep doing what we're doing. But
(13:06):
we're constantly innovating, funding new science, creating new
education awareness opportunities and impacting more and more people.
And to me, that's what gets me up in the morning.
I mean, that's great. And just to get a little bit personal, because
it's our 15 year anniversary tomorrow for Integrity
(13:26):
Square. Thank you. And we've gotten,
we've got about 600 podcasts, we've got a Halo Academy. We're
trying to get this word halo out there. And I was kind of
reflecting just to give our audience a little bit of background here. It's appropriate to
do it based on what you just said is like, I feel like I'm pretty
close to like accomplishing my mission. Where there's been a lot of money
(13:48):
that's been invested in the health club and the halo sector
over the last 15 years. There's a company that was 17
clubs back in 2012
that we sold to a private equity group. It's now 115
locations. It's gone from 10 of EBITDA to
110 of EBITDA. It's opened up another
(14:11):
100 locations that 8,000 people
work out at. So it's 800,000 people that have a health club membership now, I
think is the math maybe even more. Is that right, Dave? By doing
100 just real quick. Yeah, it's about 8,
000 members per club to
8 million actually. Dude, not 800. Email people have a
(14:32):
fitness facility that they work at. So I'm thinking like
to you saying like, hey, I want to shut down. I want to get take
myself out of a job. It's such like a powerful thing to be able to
say that you want to do because you had a mission and it might actually
just be eradicated. Like it's not an issue anymore. So I
ask people here on our audience to think about if you were to be able
(14:54):
to put yourself out of a job and actually go and do something else
that, that needs you because you'll take your skill set and you'll say, okay, what's
the next problem? Like who's, who's the next Tina and what was her wish and
who hasn't solved that? So I applaud you for thinking
that way and actually articulating that way because there's nothing better than saying like, hey,
I finished what I needed to do and now I'm going to go do something
(15:15):
else on our anniversary. I'm
thinking like, I'm almost like at that point Where, Dave, thanks to you
and me and everybody else, like, we're getting close to, like,
the seventh inning of this thing. So anyway, just want to
add that in. So thank you for letting me do that. Based on what you
said, that pinched me in a certain way. So
(15:37):
as you look forward, you've also got another foundation
that you run related to your brother
who was killed in Iraq. And there aren't that many. I
mean, I'm sure there are several thousand Jewish Americans that
are still in the Army. Thankfully, I didn't have to go. You
know, it's one of the blessings, I guess, of being born in this era where
(15:59):
there was like a cold war, no one had to actually go in there. So
talk about your brother's decision to join the army,
which I don't know if my Jewish mother would be like, that's a great career
choice, Pete. Like, you should really go and fight for the country. So
how did that transpire? Sure. So my brother, when
he went to WashU in St. Louis, made the decision to join
(16:20):
ROTC Reserve Officers Training Course. And that
was in 1989. And
my dad was in the reserves. He was. Did not fight active duty during
Vietnam. But being. But our
grandparents definitely served in World War II. My brother. And
so my brother joined ROTC at Wash U. He graduated as a second
(16:42):
lieutenant in 93. And they didn't need active duty
troops. Right. This was pre 9 11. And so we stayed in the
reserves. And then it wasn't until 2005
that my brother was called to active duty in Kuwait. And then he was
called back in 2000, 2005 to Kuwait and
2008 to Baghdad. So he's a year. She's a year older than
(17:04):
me. I went to Emory, which basically like the wash U. Of St.
Louis vs. Emory in Atlanta. So
I never even thought about joining. I don't even know if they had it there.
But quite a. Quite a decision for him to be making.
It really was. And you know, during all that time and even when he went
away to Kuwait in, oh, five, he was married. He had one
(17:27):
child when he left to go to Kuwait. And his second child was born
when he was in Kuwait. And he didn't hold her, my niece, until
she was eight months old. And so I always tell people think about
the sacrifices even beyond the ultimate sacrifice my brother paid.
But it's really a family commitment to
our country, to upholding our values
(17:50):
and to doing something truly selfless. I mean, as you were. And I were both
saying. You were saying about how you've started this business, I've gone into the
not for profit. We also, we get to make those choices.
But once you make a commitment to the military, you can't just back
out, you know, my brother's first deployment was for
13 months and then his second deployment when he went to
(18:12):
Baghdad. He would only been there three months when he was killed by an
incoming missile that we know came and was funded by Iran.
Wow. It's crazy. So what's the, what's the nonprofit there
surrounding and what are you trying to do to, you know,
basically like support his memory and what he
quote, unquote, his wish? Correct. So my mom is very fond
(18:34):
of saying that we're my brother's memory keepers. And so we're
determined to keep his legacy alive, not only for his
children, my children, but really our greater community. Because as you
said, you don't know very many people that have served, let alone an American
Jewish soldier. And so we also didn't
want to simply be an Amazon fulfillment center. So we also do
(18:57):
education and awareness programming, whether it's for Veterans Day, Memorial Day,
or throughout the year with schools, community groups, churches,
synagogues, et cetera, for both children and adults. And
there's always then a call to action, and we make care packages that we then
send overseas to our deployed troops to let them know that there's people at
home that are thinking of them beyond their mom and dad. Foreign.
(19:21):
This is Pete Moore. Here's the last tip for you of the podcast.
We are partnered up with a company called higher dose
higherdose.com they are the leader in
workout recovery products. Infrared technology,
LED light masks, neck enhancers, and
other products such as PEMF mats and sauna
(19:43):
blankets. If you have not gotten on the workout
recovery train yet, your time and your stop
is now. You got to get these products in there before these workout
recovery and spas end up saturating your market.
Having your members walk out of the club and going into one of their locations
for 200 bucks per month where they're paying 39 to
(20:05):
you. Let's become an expert in workout recovery. If we
are already an authority in. Workouts, Higher dose,
check it out. There's a wholesale code and we look.
Forward to helping you augment your products. And services
to meet the demands of your members. And hey, let's get people
happy, healthy and sweating. And the recovery should be
(20:27):
just as good as the workout.
Did you watch that movie about the. The women
that basically like got all the mail to the. What was it called again? I
just saw It. I just saw it as well. It was such an incredible movie.
I knew nothing about that unit. Can you find out what the
(20:47):
name of that was? It was on his Oscar
award. I don't know if. Oscar, Academy Awards. Yeah. It was great.
About all the African American women that were basically deployed to get through the
mail to make sure it got to the soldiers. And it was like they took
over, like, an old church or they took over, like, an old
school or something. And, like, had, like, this awesome, like, assembly line. They were figuring
(21:09):
everything out. Got it out, like, six months. They're basically, like, set up there to
fail and succeeded.
The one thing that I. I've been thinking about lately, because of my grandparents, my
grandfather passed away, like, 20 years ago, and I. I wrote up this,
like, top 10 list. And he, like. He's probably the only guy who, like, had
all of his grandchildren sequentially, like, in a car where he fell asleep on, like,
(21:31):
the Meadowbrook Parkway and, like, got him home safely. You know, it's crazy stuff, but,
like, the boat. The biggest thing he did was he got,
you know, from Odessa to come to America. Like, it's the most important thing that
you ever did instead of, like, this chain of events. Do you think right
now there's, like, harder to keep people's memory
alive because there's so much social media and there's so much. You're
(21:53):
inundated with so much information that people don't really take as much
time to remember the past because there's so much in, like,
being inundated with information that they don't make time for that. It's one of the
things that's been bothering me personally. It's actually a
great question. I mean, I definitely think. Right. It's like, whatever comes through your
feed, that's what's on top of mind. Present. But
(22:15):
interesting. When I do post about my brother and I do post about the
programs, the engagement that I get is tremendous. And
I think that comes from the fact that people are proud
to be American and they don't know how to
demonstrate that. Yeah, true. So when I provide an opportunity
for them to come to an event or to write a letter or to bring
(22:37):
me into their community, they actually are really excited and proud to do
that. And so it becomes a twofold. Not
only can I honor and remember my brother, but then we get to engage and
hear about other people's stories as well. Of service.
That's great. Well, it's been a pleasure talking to you. I love what you're doing
and your mission and hope you accomplish your mission,
(23:00):
you know, in due course. So you could go take on another mission and challenge
that you will succeed at fulfilling with. Your brother succeeded his
mission, obviously, as well during his time there and
the seat of what happened. So we'll get all the
information out. Maybe we can sync up after the podcast launches,
try and target a couple of fitness studios that are
(23:22):
primarily women's communities, that are
age appropriate that we could do some testing with and from
our audience. I'd love to see if we can find a couple of people who've
had ovarian cancer detection early that would be able
to to be a mouthpiece and an advocate for this,
because it would be a shame to have people learn about this later in life
(23:43):
and know that if we had just one, you know,
piece of information that gets to them as an aha moment, that this just
doesn't have to happen to other people. So thanks for everything you do, Beverly, and
thanks for coming on Halo Talks. Thanks for having me and happy anniversary.
Thank you. Appreciate that.
(24:18):
Sa.
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