Episode #563: Advancing Health Literacy and Ovarian Cancer Awareness with Beverly Wolfer of Tina's Wish

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I am super excited to announce that we now have a formal

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partnership with the Prospect Wizard. And when I say

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wizard, I mean wizard. Obviously you have a website.

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voicemail immediately. Goes to you, your sales team or anyone else in the

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club instantly. MIT shows a study that if you contact

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the league within 10 minutes, chance of them converting goes up nine

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times. That of the average. We got the Atlanta clubs

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on it. Vita Fitness, Gold's Gym, Mountainside

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City Fitness, Philly, College Park. Become one

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of the next Halo companies to deploy the Wizard.

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you all set up and let the leads flow based on the

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Wizard. Go get him.

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This is Pete Moore on Halo Talks nyc. I have the pleasure of bringing to

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our audience Beverly Wolfer, executive director

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of Many Things on the nonprofit side. We're going to

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talk today about health literacy. We're going to talk about giving back to

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the community. We're going to talk about education, we're going to talk about awareness

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and we're going to talk about her role in making that happen. So,

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Beverly, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for having me today.

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So I know you met Dave Ganilin at a networking event, which a lot of

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people do because he attends a lot of networking events. So he is a networker

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and always finds right people to to bring on the

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show. So you've made a very selective screen

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by Mr. Ganiel and as our chief marketing officer and executive

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producer of Halo Talks. So Beverly, why don't you give

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our audience a quick bio on yourself and then let's talk

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health literacy. Sure. So I've been with Tina's wish for almost

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13 years. I came at a time in my life when I was making a

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career pivot. I was in the commercial management

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consulting sphere with Booz Allen and Hamilton.

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And I needed something where I could take all of those incredible

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skill sets I had and take it to a new community.

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And I found it here at Tina's Wish. I recognized

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that I could take all of my business background because running a not for profit

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is running a business as well

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as the opportunity to really love coming to work every day in support of an

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incredible mission. And it also allowed me to

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continue to use some skill sets I had learned when I started my Own family

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foundation to support American and American Jewish troops.

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Gotcha. So talk about Tina's wish. Started in 2008

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in memory of Tina Brosman, Chief Judge of

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the SDNY Bankruptcy Court. What happened there?

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She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. And tell us, you know,

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what, what transpired from there and then how the foundation got set up.

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Sure. So Tina Brosman was this very inspirational

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jurist and unfortunately she was diagnosed

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too late with ovarian cancer, which is a story we frequent.

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And the story that I've heard about her is that she wasn't angry for having

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ovarian cancer. She was angry that she didn't have a fighting chance against

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the disease. And the reason for that is we don't have an early detection

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screen. Women will go get a mammogram for breast cancer and a pap smear

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for cervical cancer. We don't have any ovarian like test.

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And so because of that and because the signs and symptoms are very benign

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and frequently experienced by many women, that it

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gets swept under the rug and then when it is finally diagnosed,

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it's diagnosed. Diagnosed in late stages where the five year survival rate is

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approximately 27% as opposed to stage one where it's

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91%. So I think the numbers tell our story

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and we aim to change those. And what was her wish?

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Because she got $29 million of donations,

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correct? Yeah. So today we've raised $29 million

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and her wish is to find an early detection screen.

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And I will say that since 2008 when the foundation began

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making grants, we've seen both progress,

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but also progress in the technology that's enabling the

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researchers to get closer to fulfilling Tino's wish. Gotcha.

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We're involved with Cycle for Survival, which

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a friend of mine from business school, Jen Goodman,

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Lynn, was started back in the day and they've

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been raising money for sarcoma and rare cancer. So

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I, I love your, your mission here and I think people should

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know that if you put enough money and, and resources

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towards one of these types of diseases or,

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or detection that you are going to get to, to the

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answer. And you just, you just need to be patient

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with how long it takes. So talk about some of the things

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that you're doing in order to get the message

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across on, on health literacy. And then as, as mentioned to you

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prior, you know, we've got health club operators, we got people that

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are invested in sports complexes,

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boutique studios. A number of groups are

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focused on primarily women for yoga,

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Pilates, bar programming.

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How could they potentially either get involved as part of a

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fundraiser with you, kind of like they do with the Susan,

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you know, Coleman foundation or any kind of,

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you know, like events in a box or like a fundraising kit, you know,

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or like turnkey. So you could say, hey, like partner with us.

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Sure. So I'll take the first part of the question. So what did we do

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to address really the what what can people do

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in the absence of an early detection screen? And what we realized when people

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came to our events and that we have in person education that people were

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walking away with new knowledge. We've already to date have three

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women come to us that because they came to our event, learned about signs and

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symptom, they were actually took action and

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one was diagnosed in stage one and one in stage three of ovarian

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cancer. So we know we changed the trajectory of their lives. But how

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do we get our message out to a much broader audience? We

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created what we call a whole education and awareness

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platform called what to Know Down Below. And one

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of the components of that is a podcast series.

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I urge anyone to go onto any of the podcast channels and download

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what to Know Down Below. We do have a heavy focus on

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ovarian cancer, but we've also been expanding it to other

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gynecologic conditions. So whether it's the other gynecologic

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cancers, whether it's about menopause, perimenopause,

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ovarian cancer, cysts, endometriosis, et cetera, how

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to advocate for yourself as a patient. So we're really

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trying to bridge the gap with what you alluded to earlier, which is really a

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dearth of health literacy amongst our community.

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And so we hope that people will take advantage of it. You asked me about

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how could people listeners get involved. So we'd love to

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partner with any of your audience members, whether it's

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co branding the materials, having materials available in

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the gyms or yoga studios or

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Pilates studios, as well as we are creating

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decals to go on the back of bathroom stalls. So that amazing

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idea for stadiums and other

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studios. And we're just looking to partner with like

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minded individuals who want to share this education and awareness with

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their communities. So Beverly, you know, are there any.

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Can we find or are there already people that are in the

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fitness industry that are influencers, maybe

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someone, something that can be generated from our audience here listening

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to this podcast that have had these conditions, took

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action at the right time with, with enough, you know,

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years ahead for this to proliferate where they've taken action and,

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and they could also be kind of like a, you know, mouthpiece for, for

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this in our industry or the halo sector, health, active lifestyle

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outdoors, which we use, maybe that's something that, that would be a, a

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nice consequence of, of putting this out there. So if anyone in our audience

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knows of someone that has had any kind of ovarian cancer and they got it

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diagnosed and then treated properly, that'll be helpful to get to us. So

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we can use that as part of our marketing, obviously, if they're comfortable

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with it. So, Beverly, how, how have you seen

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some of the traction that you get when you partner with

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local, you know, called mom and pop operators or any kind of

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chains that say, look, this is what we're getting behind?

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Sure. So we've seen a few different things. One is they've

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sometimes chosen to do, let's say, like a smaller fundraiser for us

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locally within their own community. And then while they're doing

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it, whether it's like a kind of like a cycle for survival kind of

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activity or just a class that's being dedicated in honor

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of Tina's wish, we then also provide the materials to them to also

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share with their attendees. And so as we all know,

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you know, people like to do activities that they're passionate about and

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they like to do them for a good cause. So if you can combine the

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two together and we always see it as a win, win. And I think you

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mentioned earlier, like, do we have a, you know, kit

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in a box? And yes, we are happy to send things out to people and

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also send things electronically. And we found that to be really

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effective.

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This is Pete Moore. I want to let you in on a little secret. There's

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this company called Promotion Vault. And what they do is they give. Out rewards

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from retailers that allow you to incentivize your

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members without having to do zero down and one month free

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or giving away shakes or giving away T shirts. What you want to

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do is build a rewards program that lasts, that people value

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and that doesn't discount your own products and services. So here's the

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deal. There's something called Rewards Vault. The Rewards Vault is going

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to allow. A member to set up their own profile. They are going

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to answer questions. You are going to get those answers. You're going to be able

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to target those members and you're going to reward them inside your

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club, inside your spa, and outside of the club and outside

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of the spa to get them to become loyal, to get them to pay

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their monthly dues and to be rewarded properly

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for the actions. A lot of companies are cutting back on Rewards, you shouldn't

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be promotional. Your answer, trust me, this is real.

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So. So from a standpoint, let's. Let's talk about you as

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an executive and as a, you know, somebody who worked

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in, you know, a big firm before and now kind of running, you

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know, a nonprofit and probably much more entrepreneurial.

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How has that kind of impacted you? When you got up in

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the morning? How does it impact you? Maybe, you know, you're giving up some financial

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rewards, but you're getting other rewards. You know, I could be

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working at a. An investment bank, and they wouldn't let me do a podcast like

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this for compliance reasons. I also wouldn't be allowed to wear a hat.

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You know, I wouldn't probably be able to go to a basketball game because

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someone's like, you know, it's during the day. So how has

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it kind of changed your life? And when someone, you know, questions

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you about, like, where you took your career, it would kind of shift this

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to, you know, people that actually take the leap and say,

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you know what? I'm just not. I'm not who I want to be. I don't

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feel like this is my purpose and I want to change and actually do something

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about it. No, it's a great question. I have to

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say, every day when I get up, I'm not necessarily saving

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or impacting someone's life with the education and awareness, but

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overall, because I'm still doing things like HR and accounting and an

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audit and bookkeeping and, you know, working with the teams that support us and all

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of those activities. But at the end of the day, I also know what the

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purpose is for and why I'm doing what I'm doing. And when we

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host events, I was just in D.C. last week and the week before in LA,

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and people come up to us and are like, I had no idea about

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anything you just talked to me about. And we do it in under 30 minutes.

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And we. I doesn't matter. The educational level of the audience

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people always leave with, always call it like a nugget of new information.

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And from my perspective, at the end of the day, I tell everyone I

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hire onto my team and I tell prospective donors, my goal is to put

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myself out of a job. My goal is for us to solve

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Tina Brosman's dying wish and to find an early detection.

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And I can't think of a better way to

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put on my next resume, you know, how to put myself out of a job.

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Because we solved the problem that we went into solving, right?

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Businesses are always just there, like, oh, we'll just keep doing what we're doing. But

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we're constantly innovating, funding new science, creating new

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education awareness opportunities and impacting more and more people.

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And to me, that's what gets me up in the morning.

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I mean, that's great. And just to get a little bit personal, because

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it's our 15 year anniversary tomorrow for Integrity

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Square. Thank you. And we've gotten,

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we've got about 600 podcasts, we've got a Halo Academy. We're

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trying to get this word halo out there. And I was kind of

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reflecting just to give our audience a little bit of background here. It's appropriate to

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do it based on what you just said is like, I feel like I'm pretty

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close to like accomplishing my mission. Where there's been a lot of money

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that's been invested in the health club and the halo sector

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over the last 15 years. There's a company that was 17

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clubs back in 2012

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that we sold to a private equity group. It's now 115

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locations. It's gone from 10 of EBITDA to

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110 of EBITDA. It's opened up another

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100 locations that 8,000 people

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work out at. So it's 800,000 people that have a health club membership now, I

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think is the math maybe even more. Is that right, Dave? By doing

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100 just real quick. Yeah, it's about 8,

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000 members per club to

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8 million actually. Dude, not 800. Email people have a

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fitness facility that they work at. So I'm thinking like

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to you saying like, hey, I want to shut down. I want to get take

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myself out of a job. It's such like a powerful thing to be able to

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say that you want to do because you had a mission and it might actually

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just be eradicated. Like it's not an issue anymore. So I

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ask people here on our audience to think about if you were to be able

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to put yourself out of a job and actually go and do something else

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that, that needs you because you'll take your skill set and you'll say, okay, what's

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the next problem? Like who's, who's the next Tina and what was her wish and

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who hasn't solved that? So I applaud you for thinking

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that way and actually articulating that way because there's nothing better than saying like, hey,

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I finished what I needed to do and now I'm going to go do something

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else on our anniversary. I'm

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thinking like, I'm almost like at that point Where, Dave, thanks to you

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and me and everybody else, like, we're getting close to, like,

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the seventh inning of this thing. So anyway, just want to

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add that in. So thank you for letting me do that. Based on what you

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said, that pinched me in a certain way. So

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as you look forward, you've also got another foundation

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that you run related to your brother

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who was killed in Iraq. And there aren't that many. I

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mean, I'm sure there are several thousand Jewish Americans that

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are still in the Army. Thankfully, I didn't have to go. You

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know, it's one of the blessings, I guess, of being born in this era where

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there was like a cold war, no one had to actually go in there. So

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talk about your brother's decision to join the army,

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which I don't know if my Jewish mother would be like, that's a great career

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choice, Pete. Like, you should really go and fight for the country. So

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how did that transpire? Sure. So my brother, when

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he went to WashU in St. Louis, made the decision to join

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ROTC Reserve Officers Training Course. And that

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was in 1989. And

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my dad was in the reserves. He was. Did not fight active duty during

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Vietnam. But being. But our

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grandparents definitely served in World War II. My brother. And

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so my brother joined ROTC at Wash U. He graduated as a second

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lieutenant in 93. And they didn't need active duty

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troops. Right. This was pre 9 11. And so we stayed in the

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reserves. And then it wasn't until 2005

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that my brother was called to active duty in Kuwait. And then he was

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called back in 2000, 2005 to Kuwait and

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2008 to Baghdad. So he's a year. She's a year older than

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me. I went to Emory, which basically like the wash U. Of St.

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Louis vs. Emory in Atlanta. So

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I never even thought about joining. I don't even know if they had it there.

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But quite a. Quite a decision for him to be making.

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It really was. And you know, during all that time and even when he went

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away to Kuwait in, oh, five, he was married. He had one

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child when he left to go to Kuwait. And his second child was born

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when he was in Kuwait. And he didn't hold her, my niece, until

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she was eight months old. And so I always tell people think about

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the sacrifices even beyond the ultimate sacrifice my brother paid.

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But it's really a family commitment to

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our country, to upholding our values

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and to doing something truly selfless. I mean, as you were. And I were both

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saying. You were saying about how you've started this business, I've gone into the

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not for profit. We also, we get to make those choices.

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But once you make a commitment to the military, you can't just back

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out, you know, my brother's first deployment was for

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13 months and then his second deployment when he went to

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Baghdad. He would only been there three months when he was killed by an

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incoming missile that we know came and was funded by Iran.

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Wow. It's crazy. So what's the, what's the nonprofit there

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surrounding and what are you trying to do to, you know,

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basically like support his memory and what he

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quote, unquote, his wish? Correct. So my mom is very fond

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of saying that we're my brother's memory keepers. And so we're

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determined to keep his legacy alive, not only for his

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children, my children, but really our greater community. Because as you

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said, you don't know very many people that have served, let alone an American

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Jewish soldier. And so we also didn't

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want to simply be an Amazon fulfillment center. So we also do

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education and awareness programming, whether it's for Veterans Day, Memorial Day,

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or throughout the year with schools, community groups, churches,

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synagogues, et cetera, for both children and adults. And

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there's always then a call to action, and we make care packages that we then

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send overseas to our deployed troops to let them know that there's people at

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home that are thinking of them beyond their mom and dad. Foreign.

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This is Pete Moore. Here's the last tip for you of the podcast.

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We are partnered up with a company called higher dose

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other products such as PEMF mats and sauna

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recovery train yet, your time and your stop

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is now. You got to get these products in there before these workout

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recovery and spas end up saturating your market.

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Having your members walk out of the club and going into one of their locations

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for 200 bucks per month where they're paying 39 to

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Forward to helping you augment your products. And services

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to meet the demands of your members. And hey, let's get people

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happy, healthy and sweating. And the recovery should be

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just as good as the workout.

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Did you watch that movie about the. The women

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that basically like got all the mail to the. What was it called again? I

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just saw It. I just saw it as well. It was such an incredible movie.

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I knew nothing about that unit. Can you find out what the

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name of that was? It was on his Oscar

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award. I don't know if. Oscar, Academy Awards. Yeah. It was great.

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About all the African American women that were basically deployed to get through the

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mail to make sure it got to the soldiers. And it was like they took

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over, like, an old church or they took over, like, an old

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school or something. And, like, had, like, this awesome, like, assembly line. They were figuring

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everything out. Got it out, like, six months. They're basically, like, set up there to

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fail and succeeded.

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The one thing that I. I've been thinking about lately, because of my grandparents, my

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grandfather passed away, like, 20 years ago, and I. I wrote up this,

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like, top 10 list. And he, like. He's probably the only guy who, like, had

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all of his grandchildren sequentially, like, in a car where he fell asleep on, like,

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the Meadowbrook Parkway and, like, got him home safely. You know, it's crazy stuff, but,

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like, the boat. The biggest thing he did was he got,

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you know, from Odessa to come to America. Like, it's the most important thing that

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you ever did instead of, like, this chain of events. Do you think right

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now there's, like, harder to keep people's memory

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alive because there's so much social media and there's so much. You're

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inundated with so much information that people don't really take as much

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time to remember the past because there's so much in, like,

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being inundated with information that they don't make time for that. It's one of the

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things that's been bothering me personally. It's actually a

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great question. I mean, I definitely think. Right. It's like, whatever comes through your

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feed, that's what's on top of mind. Present. But

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interesting. When I do post about my brother and I do post about the

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programs, the engagement that I get is tremendous. And

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I think that comes from the fact that people are proud

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to be American and they don't know how to

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demonstrate that. Yeah, true. So when I provide an opportunity

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for them to come to an event or to write a letter or to bring

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me into their community, they actually are really excited and proud to do

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that. And so it becomes a twofold. Not

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only can I honor and remember my brother, but then we get to engage and

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hear about other people's stories as well. Of service.

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That's great. Well, it's been a pleasure talking to you. I love what you're doing

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and your mission and hope you accomplish your mission,

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you know, in due course. So you could go take on another mission and challenge

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that you will succeed at fulfilling with. Your brother succeeded his

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mission, obviously, as well during his time there and

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the seat of what happened. So we'll get all the

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information out. Maybe we can sync up after the podcast launches,

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try and target a couple of fitness studios that are

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primarily women's communities, that are

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age appropriate that we could do some testing with and from

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our audience. I'd love to see if we can find a couple of people who've

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had ovarian cancer detection early that would be able

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to to be a mouthpiece and an advocate for this,

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because it would be a shame to have people learn about this later in life

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and know that if we had just one, you know,

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piece of information that gets to them as an aha moment, that this just

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doesn't have to happen to other people. So thanks for everything you do, Beverly, and

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thanks for coming on Halo Talks. Thanks for having me and happy anniversary.

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Thank you. Appreciate that.

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Sa.