How Shaney Jo Darden Turned Art Into a Global Breast Health Movement
What if art could save lives?
In this episode of Roar, host Danielle Davies talks with Shaney Jo Darden, founder and Global Creative Officer of the Keep A Breast Foundation, which has been redefining breast health education through art, activism, and access for 25 years.
What began as a single breast casting art project has evolved into a global movement—reaching young people and underserved communities around the world. Shaney Jo shares the story behind Keep A Breast, how creative expression became a tool for awareness, and what it means to center joy, art, and community in a space often defined by fear.
Together, they talk about
💗 How casting art became a global movement for breast health awareness
🎨 Why creativity can make health education actually engaging
💪 The emotional labor of advocacy—and how Shaney protects her own peace
🌍 Making breast health inclusive for men, trans, and marginalized people
❤️ Building something that lasts—and leading with heart
Plus, Shaney shares how you can join the movement, use the Keep A Breast app for monthly self-check reminders, and show up as an ally in the fight for accessible breast health.
00:00 Introduction to Roar
00:23 Sexual Assault PSA
00:55 Meet Shaney Jo Darden
01:09 The Keep A Breast Foundation
02:14 The Art of Breast Casting
07:02 Global Movement and Partnerships
13:37 The Evolution of Breast Health Awareness
18:23 Challenges and Frustrations in Women's Health
20:16 The Importance of Menopause Education
21:03 Personal Stories and Impact
23:20 Self-Care and Mental Health
31:40 Advice for Allies and Resources
40:09 Holistic Health and Medical Gaps
42:29 Merging Creativity with Advocacy
44:48 Final Thoughts and App Promotion
To Learn More
Keep A Breast Foundation:
Keep a Breast APP – share it with 8 friends!
Self-check guide:
Men with Breast Cancer:
Also Mentioned
Roxy:
Vans Warped Tour:
Frida Kahlo:
Susan G Komen:
Korean War Exhibit:
Chemo effects on septic system:
Dr. Kristi Funk:
Physician training on menopause:
Ted Lasso link to Rebecca makes herself big:
Trans Awareness Day:
To get in touch with or follow Shaney Jo
Instagram:
Linkedin:
Listen to ROAR with Danielle Davies: Women, Culture & Impact on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. New conversations every Tuesday.
Full Transcript
This transcript was generated automatically and lightly cleaned up. It may contain small errors.
Hey, I'm Danielle Davies and you're listening to Roar, a show that amplifies the voices of women breaking barriers, leading change, and making real impact. Keep listening for bold ideas and stories that inspire you to find your voice and make some noise. Every 60 seconds, nine people in the United States are sexually assaulted. 7 million rapes each year. But the people behind the Fund to Prevent Sexual Assault believe sexual violence is preventable.
Your support helps fund programs that empower young people, train leaders, and create safer spaces for everyone. Prevention starts with action. org to learn more and donate today. Hi, I'm Danielle Davies. Today on Roar, I'm joined by a true pioneer in the world of creative advocacy, Sheney Joe Darden, founder and global creative officer of the Keep a Breast Foundation.
For the past 25 years, Sheney Joe's been reshaping the way we talk about breast health, blending art, activism, and education to reach people where they are, especially young women, creatives, and communities often left out of traditional health conversations. From the iconic Breast Cast movement to global awareness campaigns, her work has empowered millions to take charge of their health and challenge the stigma around breast cancer. As Keep a Breast celebrates its 25th anniversary year, Sheney Joe is doubling down on her mission to expand access, build community, and inspire a new generation of advocates. Whether you're a longtime fan of her work or hearing about her for the first time, get ready for a conversation that I'm sure is going to be bold, creative, and deeply impactful. Welcome, Shenie.
Yay. Thank you. That was fun. I Wait, and should I say Shaneie Joe or Shenie? Do you prefer Sheny Joe?
Okay. Either or. whatever blows off your tongue. Okay, perfect. Perfect.
Well, I'm I'm excited. We And I was saying to Shenie before we pressed record, we booked this so long ago that I feel like I've been like chomping at the bit to ask you questions. So, so let's just start at the beginning. You founded this concept. You founded Keep a Breast 25 years ago.
First, can you tell us what it is for people who don't know and then what sparked this idea? Well, Keep a Breast is a nonprofit organization, but it's so much more than that, right? It's a community. It's a art project. It's a support group.
It's a way for, you know, people to be engaged in their own activism and in their own breath breast health. But really, we're a nonprofit organization and our mission is all around early detection of breast cancer. And so this is not anything I ever thought I would be doing with my life. I never planned on this. It was just one of those things that you know how life is, right?
And I had a career in fashion and then I had a friend who had breast cancer and that's how it all started. Like you know when something happens to someone you care about, something happens within you, right? And all of us are different but we want to help. And how do we do that? Right?
We are these days we have GoFundMe. We have all these things. But 25 years ago, we didn't have that. So I was like, well, I know how to do art shows. I have a bunch of friends who are artists.
Let's just bring our community together and raise some money and have fun, have a party, have a art show. Let's have bands. Let's make it fun. So it was really just that. Keep a breast just started as this one-time art show casting boobs.
By the way, it was an art show of boobs, not your any day old art show. And yeah, that was it. Just a one-time thing, and it has just grown organically and purposefully and missiondriven ever since then. I love that you're like, and it wasn't just any art show. Were you the only caster of boobs or is there a lot is there a group of you that can do this work?
there's just me. I am the only caster. I created the concept and okay there is another caster in keep a breast has an affiliate in Europe keeper breast association our office is in south of France and so I do train someone who's also an artist in France to do castings there but over all the 25 years I have pretty much done every single cast. And do you paint the cast also or how does that process work? I'm gonna have to show pictures at the beginning of what you have to show pictures.
Yeah. I mean, they're each one I've I've made thousands, right? And each one is completely unique and they're painted by contemporary artists, you know, professional artists. So, whenever we're doing an exhibition, we curate the castees, you know, the people that are being casted, but we also curate the artists to go together to make an exhibition. Do the artists ever meet the castes just out of curiosity?
Sometimes they know them. We always give them the artists like their profile or their Instagram, you know, like back in the day we didn't have any of that, but we always tell the artists who they have and sometimes we'll let the casties choose their artist as well. Oh my gosh. Okay, that's so it's so special because it's I mean the thing is it's I mean I feel like art is special too, you know. " And I'm like, "Right, that's one kind of picture on the wall, but that's not the same as art, which has like meaning and development and skill, but mostly meaning behind it.
And this has so much meaning behind it. It's really special that you get to pair people up sometimes or that they have that opportunity to be paired up. Yeah. And art moves you, you know. Art is the ultimate communicator without words.
Yeah. Yeah. You know, so it's a way for us to start conversations. It's a way for us to break taboos, you know. It's a way for us to get our message out there in a way that is creative and is engaging and draws you in.
Absolutely. And you know, you talk a lot about when you started this 25 years ago, we didn't have these things. And it is it is crazy because we are really that like in that generational spot where we've gone from like nothing, you know? We didn't even have like I was telling the story the other day. I'm like, and we don't didn't have cell phones like when we were lost, we were like legitimately lost.
Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. So, how did you go from, you know, the idea and like this one event to being a global movement? Well, we were invited.
We got invited. And so, by doing this one thing, it was so unique and it was so special. We got a lot of attention. And because of my background in fashion, I worked in the skateboarding industry. " Like, you know, one of the brands we originally worked with was Roxy, the surf brand.
And Roxy's like, "We'd love that. " You know, Roxy really brought us to Hawaii, to Tahiti, to China, to England. Like Roxy brought us all around the world and they still partner with us today. So shout out to Roxy because they are totally awesome. But also like we were invited early on to be part of the Vans Warp Tour.
" they get to learn about something too while they're having fun, while they're in a space where they're open to learning and you know, and it's I'm just thinking about having once been young like being at these things. You they're the cast themselves are such like they're memorable. That's not something you're going to forget. even if you just see one like and you're passing it by, but I imagine if there's a bunch of them, you're really like it's moving and it's poignant and it's powerful. And are you are you casting women all of whom have had breast cancer?
Are they in a treatment process? Are they healthy? How are the how do you select who you're casting? many t I mean I've casted women, I've casted men. men can also get breast cancer.
So, it's a way to have that conversation and it really depends on the exhibition and how it's curated. So, I've had some exhibitions where the casts are only survivors, only women who have been impacted or we've had some exhibitions where it's only, you know, professional athletes like surfers or snowboarders or skaters. So, we it really just depends on the particular exhibition and where we're having it. What is the message of that exhibition? I love how you took like you know your the found like basically your DNA of creativity and so let me back up.
So many people I just had another interview today and we were talking about the fact that like a lot of times people are like I want to get involved in something and then they're like but I don't want to run for office and you're like there's like a hundred billion things in between that you could do and sometimes it's as easy as like and we were this morning we were saying like dropping off a meal for your local candidate or you know something really tangible and small but that's going to help make an impact that day. But there are so many things you can do like leaning on your own creativity. I'm just so curious about how the So you had a background in fashion, but how did the casting part start like and why do you think it resonated so deeply in those early days? Well, I think it's important kind of what you were mentioning is like this lens like each of us has our own unique lens of how we were raised where we came from what type of schooling we had you know did I what type however you were you know so like I took my lens through action sports kind of culture and applied it in a nonprofit way that was completely unique because I had no idea how to start a nonprofit or what that even meant, you know, like what's a 501c3 like it's like isn't the paperwork enough to just like a nonprofit is like ridiculous. But yeah, and I just did it in the way the only way I knew how, which was from more of a punk rock way, DIY way of doing things, you know, and with the casts.
I was originally inspired by Freda Ko. because I've always been a huge fan of Freda and there's all those iconic images of her where she's, you know, lying in her bed and she's painting her own cast. And to me, she was such a beautiful representation of creating beauty out of tragedy, you know, and if you've read about Fred or if you know about Freda, you know, she experienced, you know, physical trauma, which is why she was wearing that cast, but also, you know, she had a lot of trauma in her life that she continued to produce something beautiful out of that. And that also is like what happens when people have cancer or something serious happens to people. A lot of times there's real beauty and awareness that comes out of those moments.
Absolutely. And I I think about even like own you know my own experiences in life and sometimes when things have gone you know your own tragedies for me and maybe this is unique to some but like I always am like I need to make something because it's like something is not happening so you got to bring something else into the world. Do you know what I mean? Like something's leaving. You just have to make like throw it all into the ethers, you know, like Yeah.
Yeah. You have to move through it. Yeah. And I feel like those casts especially show that because you're Did you ever go to Washington DC and see my favorite my favorite artwork or portraiture or sculpture in Washington DC is actually the Korean War exhibit where there are these soul soldiers that are cast and they are just ever so slightly larger than life. like each one's probably 6 and 1/2 or 7 feet tall and they're walking like you're walking right next to them and there they are but they're they're frozen in time and it's so powerful and I feel like I get that same feeling with these casts like you're freezing a moment you know like literally capturing it.
So anyway, I'm rambling. Let me let me ask you another question. When you've like you've said been around a long time, 25 years you've been doing this. How has besides the fact that we can promote things in different like so many different ways now than we used to, how have you seen the conversation around breast health shift especially when it comes to younger people or marginalized communities? I know that like 25 years ago we were kids.
I don't I remember a little bit like you know breast self- exam but there wasn't a huge focus. I don't even think the S Susan G. Kman Foundation was out or if it was it was like you just now there's so much There's so much out there. There's so much accessibility. There's so much information.
What have you seen, you know, as kind of a founder in these in terms of shifts? In terms of shifts, I mean, social media has played a huge role. You know, there's this beautiful thing now where there are influencer survivors like okay that you know there's survivors out there that are brave enough to use their platforms to tell their story to encourage other people to you know whether it is do their selfch check but there's so many niche things about going through cancer that literally the community itself the cancer community on social media is taking care of. You know, they're talking about things that doctors are never going to tell you. They're never going to talk to you about it.
You know, they're talking about things that you don't see in the news. You don't hear people talking about that only someone who's lived it is going to tell you about like where I live. I live out in like a rural area and my house is on a septic. So, I didn't know this, but someone recently was just talking about how chemotherapy completely screws up your septic system because all of that, you know, medicine and everything is going through, you know, the your shower, your toilet, all of this stuff. And so, you need to maintain your septic.
I mean, this is a weird conversation, but you need to maintain your Yeah. It's just one example of like I learned that on social media. So, it's really beautiful the community that can rally around the survivor community, you know, it's like to me that's been really incredible and the survivors themselves are the ones who are leading this conversation and people are listening and it's it's important because the mainstream media, doctors, everyone has their foot in the game for a different reason, you know, so you're getting it straight from, you know, the people who are really experiencing it. And I appreciate that so much. Yeah.
And I feel like, you know, years ago, my sister realized she had like a almost like an orphan disease. You know, there was something and that's where she found the most information was in a Facebook group because it's like corelling people from all across the world and they're sharing their experiences. It's, you know, there's a lot to be said about social media, good and bad, and but in terms of like collective experiences and sharing knowledge if you've had where, you know, years ago, what were you going to do? Like send letters to everybody you knew? Like what would you possibly do?
What do we like a party line? I mean, what could you what could you do now? People can access this is going off the rails. People can access your party line. this is where you get your information.
But like now you can access so much stuff and you know I have a friend who created a movement a project out of her experience as a breast cancer survivor and I'm hope she's going to be I'm going to be talking to her for the podcast at some point too because it's just been so amazing to watch her transform her you know her crisis her tragedy into like this thing that benefits all these women and using her own story and being like willing to share it over and over. I mean, some people would like to stay away from that, you know, sharing their own story all the time and kind of reliving this difficult thing, but she's she's down for it and it's it's impressive and I feel like that's got to be a lot of your audience like Yeah. And for your friend is her own healing, you know? She's pulled or drawn to give in this way ultimately because her soul is calling that her soul wants that you know so it's it's her own healing as well which is that magic sparkle of being of service right you she's giving all this to other people but it's coming back to her own healing in a much bigger way. Absolutely.
and you know, you mentioned like the stuff like that's coming out even whether it's the septic system or you know any kind of lived experience story that you're not going to hear from doctors and I am sure as somebody who's like kind of really in this world that has to be a frustration that like you can't just access all this information at a doctor's office. Are there other systems or cultural norms that you're hoping to see fixed or that frustrate you when it comes to breast health awareness or women's health in general? I was just having this conversation the other day with Dr. Christy Funk. She's I met her in her office the other day and she's an amazing breast surgeon in LA.
And doctors, medical doctors aren't trained about diet. They're not trained about nutrition. So, and when their patients ask them about, you know, alternative care or diet or certain things like that, they don't have answers. And a lot of times because they don't know, they just steer you away from the question in the first place. So, the major thing to answer your question that I would love to see changed is in the education of medical doctors.
You know, there needs to be part of their degree, their education, their training that includes a more holistic approach to their patients diet and mental health specifically. You know, patients aren't given resources for their mental health or their own mental health, let alone the mental health of their families, you know, their partners, their children, their best friends. So there's a there's a gap that's missing and we can't rely on the doctors to fill that gap themselves. You know, it needs to start at the beginning in education. You know, I talked to people, a lot of people in like the menopause space and different women's health areas.
And it's crazy what doctors are not taught in medical school. I mean, they'll tell you, you know, we spent like a day on menopause. Like I mean I feel like that's like a whole that's like a year's worth of information right there. I mean there are people there are now doctors and organizations building entire I hate to say brands but entire business models just based on just menopause or just pmenopause because that's how big and important it actually is. It's like we have to break down the specialties like OBGYn's just huge right?
you know, that's where we get so much of our care as women. can you share a story of one that really stayed with you from someone who's been impacted by your work? Oh gosh, you're putting me on the spot with that one. I'm sorry. It could be your first, you know, your friend who you started it with if you want, but that's Yeah, I mean that's that's definitely good.
I mean, keep a breast was I founded this organization with my friend Mona and she's a cancer survivor now, but not when we started Keep a Breast. You know, we both know each other from the action sports industry. She worked at a snowboarding magazine. And so when we first started Keep a Breast, like Mona and I, we had another organization before that doing art exhibitions. So we were like, well, we like to throw parties.
We like bringing our friends together. So that was the beginning. And today still like Mona she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Right now I think she might be oh man at least like 12 years out and her mother also had breast cancer. So her and she still deals.
That's the thing is like she's like my best friend and so many people through the time of keep a breast that I've gotten to know. It's it's not like you're ever really healed a lot of the times whether it's mental or physical you know like she still has to get scans on a regular basis. There's always this fear of like is it coming back? you know, how am I living my life now? How do I want to live my life?
So, it's this it's it's just like the shittiest thing to have happen, you know, because a lot of times, you know, people have to have multiple surgeries and things like that. So, I think for me it really just always comes back to like how are you supporting your community? How are you supporting yourself? How are you supporting, you know, your caregivers and the people around you in a time of crisis? You know, that's where it really shows like the value of your own salt, right?
Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. And you know, you just said too, like how are you how are you taking care of your community, but also yourself? Like how do you take care of yourself?
like what is this what does this self-care look like for you when your job is centered around this and it's you know a lot of people want to just like a lot of people that I know even are like I'm just going to tune it all out you know just hope for the best and tune it out all everything the news the world like all these things but when you're in it you can't help like you just said it's the shittiest thing and you see it all the time like how are you kind of protecting that internal dialogue of your own from just kind of running away with that like and you know what I mean like it would have to scare you or get in your head. I mean how do you keep yourself going through this? Yeah. I think that when you are inundated on a daily basis with information about breast cancer, new studies, this kind of thing. But then on this like heady side of it, but then you're also inundated on a you know like daily basis with like everyone you know texting you about their friend who was just diagnosed or their co-worker or what their mother's going through you know through the DMs, through emails, through Instagram, like all these things.
So it's like it's it's my job to be present. It's my job to be empathetic. It's my job to not become like numb from hearing the same thing all the time, you know, because each person's story is unique and I have a pretty crazy self-care routine, you know, but also I really always take a moment to protect my energy, you know, especially in public spaces where people are coming, you know, whether we have an event or things like that and people are coming up to me, you know, there's like keep a breath shy And then there's also like Shaney. It so it's the same person, but there's also two different things. So I can when I'm working in public in an event type situation, I'm keep a brush shiny and there that for me that's a way to protect me like the my little scared person inside of me, you know, but it's also a way to be really present.
And I always will like really listen to people, look at them in the eye, but I always I'll create like different techniques where I and like put a pink bubble around myself for the day and I imagine that it's like glittery and shiny and beautiful and then if people are telling me about, you know, like the list is long of all the things that you could say are horrible or bad, you know, and I'll just imagine their words going over my head and like washing over me and going behind me, but still staying present. But I'm not like absorbing their sadness or their sickness or their experience. I'm not absorbing it into me. I'm just letting it float over me. And that has helped me stay healthy.
Is that something you learn to do as you because I think a lot of pe a lot of the women that I speak to are either I mean they're they're either been doing something like for a while that is making an impact in some way or they might be new to it and so I imagine at the beginning you were less skilled in like that boundary setting and it was like impactful like every time. And I mean it guts you. I imagine that it guts you because just as a human being hearing these stories you're like I mean if you watch the if you read the news too much sometimes I'm like you know and that's not people just coming to tell me their stories. So how did you learn to do these things these self-care practices to kind of keep yourself in a safe space but also one where you can keep giving? Like you said it guts you.
That's the that's the key thing, right? And it happened to me where I was like literally gutted. I was sick. I wasn't feeling well. My stomach was hurting.
There was some energy stuck inside my physical body and I did not feel well. And I'm, you know, I' I'm I've studied I've done my, you know, yoga teacher training. I've done a lot of, you know, breath work facilitation things. So like part of my life is always working with alternative healers and things like that and I had you know gone to someone for support and I was like I something's wrong like I don't feel good and there you know I did like Reiki and energy work and they're like you are holding other people's stuff inside you. You're holding other people's stories, traumas, sicknesses in your body.
They're like, "Don't do that ever again. Never again. " And so we practice some things like that. Like there's many different little rituals that you can do to protect yourself in those spaces, you know. And I always another one that I do is like kind of just brush my body and I just say like not this body and not this lifetime, you know, because like I need to be healthy and strong to do the work that I'm doing, you know?
" Like cancer is not coming over here, you know? And just doing these little things like they're woo, but they help me. You know what they And it's so funny because they might be woo, but they help. And I feel like everybody's got their woo thing. Like whether you're you're all in or it's Did you ever watch Ted Lasso?
I did. when I was just watching it and Rebecca's like when I go into and she seems so tall and powerful and she's like so you know I mean obviously we see the vulnerable side of her as like watchers of the show but you know she seems so together and so sophisticated and she's like when I go into a room if I she's like want to hear my trick and she's like I make myself big and you know and these things work like they work they are they're they're they might seem a little bit woo like you said they might be a little bit like not super mainstream, like sit up tall, you know? Not everybody's going to go into like a crouching dragon type of thing, but like it works. But you can you can and if you do it, you can utilize that and it's like an extra thing in your back pocket. So, thanks for sharing that because I feel like I think anybody who's in the field in the work of doing hard work for other people is putting themselves in like an emotionally vulnerable position over and over again.
And it can get to the point where you I mean you can become useless because you can't do it anymore. So to prevent that from happening, you've got to really take care. It's true. And culturally, even in like the business world, you know, like culturally being a manager in a corporate type of business environment is different now than it used to be. You can't just like rail off on people who are doing a bad job anymore, you know?
you the style is now to be, you know, constructive and supportive of your staff, you know, to help them get the most out of them, you know. So, we're the culture of Yeah. communication and management on difficult things is has also changed a lot, which is good. I just hope it, you know, I think it depends too on your part of the country and your world like where it, you know, how much of that you're seeing. So you're in California, right?
You're in California. You're like the first to see it. I'm in I'm in New Jersey, which isn't bad all the time, but I'm in like a very small corner of like this tiny little area of South Jersey. And even like I do an interior design column for a magazine and I'm always laughing because we generally tend to be one season behind everywhere else like every urban area that we're near because we're near Philadelphia, New York, but like we're like the next season we catch on to what they were. Do you know what I mean?
So in terms of that's like got to spread out. But I do think in I think there's a lot of good things happening in that in that arena like in taking care of ourselves and the people around us. Well, do you have any other like advice for how people could be better allies in this space even if it's that like taking care of yourself but whether they're survivors, supporters or newcomers to the space? yes. I mean ally I love that ally has become like a very popular word right and as especially with social media in these types of things you know supporting different communities by sharing you know that's a big thing is like sharing other people's voices sure that's like tipping your toe in allyship but really to me allyship is about asking questions and trying at least first to educate yourself on certain topics and then you know if you do have questions reaching out to someone that is going to really help answer them for you in a way that helps you be an ally where there is I feel like some whether it's like you know different underserved communities you know you don't want to it's not on us to learn about you know what it means to be a black or Asian breast cancer survivor.
You know, like I need to do my own research to learn how to serve communities of color who have breast cancer. But at the same time, we have, you know, a group of survivors who are women of color who help inform our work. You know, same thing with working with breast cancer survivors. You know, we try to always make sure we run our anything we put out in the world that's like data like how to check yourself or scientific information about chemicals and beauty products and cleaning products and all these things that are linked to causing cancer. It's never just like what I think or what I feel.
You know, we always want to run things by experts to make sure that it's actually factual scientific information, but also, you know, that it's going to hit. It's not going to be a miss. You know, we don't want to hurt people or offend people, but some, you know, Keep a Breast is an organization that is outspoken. You know, we talk about what breast cancer is like with the LGBTQ community. You know, we posted things just about, you know, trans awareness day the other day and obviously, of course, we got a lot of stupid people commenting on that because of how divided our country is at this moment, you know, with the trans community.
But it's like trans people get breast cancer. We're going to talk about it. keep a breast is not afraid to talk about those things, you know. So, working with people in those communities is important to us and being a helpful voice. Keep a breast wants to be a helpful voice to talk about things that you know other mainstream cancer organizations are not talking about.
I was just going to say, so are they not talking about these things all the time? I mean, I didn't look, but I didn't see, you know, Susan Gman posting about, you know, trans visibility day and breast cancer. I didn't see it, but that doesn't mean it wasn't there, you know. So, but it's great that there's there is like a place like yours that has this. And are you are there resources cuz I know you like you said when we put something together for educational purposes are people able to get physical resources like besides the casting obviously which is like the most that's like your the draw right like you see that's like the visual component that's behind everything and it's like it can be a money maker and all these things but are you is there a way you're disseminating information to people as well or is it through social media?
I know you mentioned a newsletter earlier, but what resources can people look to you to get if they want to like sign up or kind of come to you for information? Yeah, we have an awesome website and in our like education section, we have specific pages dedicated to male breast cancer. So, you can go there and learn specifically about that. We have specific pages dedicated to the LGBTQIA plus community. We have specific pages dedicated to the women of color community because they're different communities.
They need different information. They need to be spoken to in different ways. And on all those pages, you will find a lot of resources for each community. there's not that many resources for men with breast cancer. So, you know, there are areas where, you know, we need more.
We need more science, we need more resources, we need more support. But yeah, so on our website you can find specific sections that you can go and learn more about different communities and how cancer impacts those communities. And also there's like a basic breast cancer 101 like here's the basics you can learn about that. And then in our blog section, we have amazing blogs about, you know, lympadeema. what are, you know, how do you know your risk?
How can you reduce your risk? what does breast cancer mean for, if you're, you know, young, a teenager, what should you be thinking about? If you're in your 20s, if you're in your 30s, if you're in your 40s, like what are the different things you should be thinking about and doing at those different stages of your life? So, our blog is an awesome resource and yeah, we try to do as best as we can. We're small, like we're a small organization, you know, like we do a lot of work globally, but we're really small, so we try to do the best that we can with limited resources, but that's all you can do.
And I feel like I'm so inspired by you because like you said, this wasn't the field that you were going into, you know, and now you're b you're an expert on this, you know, through no really wanting to be, but you just are. And congratulations also. And I'm going to include links in the show notes to the website and all that kind of stuff too so people have the access to those resources because I haven't heard of other places having all of those resources especially when you talk about you know there's I feel like there's such a stigma with men with breast cancer. I don't know if it's a stigma or if it's like just an embarrassed feeling you've heard but people get are not very aware of it. They don't talk about it.
It's not part of the conversation when we all wear pink and bre's breast cancer awareness month. Nobody's saying anything about the men that can get it. So, I appreciate that you do and you're celebrating a huge milestone obviously 25 years. Are when you look back, is there anything you can say you're the most proud of? You said all these things you told us.
I mean the thing that I am most proud of is that Keep a Breast started a conversation with a generation that was never ever ever talked to before about their breast cancer risk and that is awesome. Nobody talked to young people about doing their selfch check or about prevention or about early detection or about the environmental links to causing cancer. Nobody talked about that. We did. And that hopefully tells me that there will be a future of more educated people cuz you know my mom is like a hippie.
She's a super open person and she wasn't even talking to me about that stuff. So like the generation after me, my hope is that they because of keep a breast, because they met us at the warp tour, because they met us at a surf cont contest, because they saw us in some gallery somewhere, like that generation has information that I didn't have. They and that my mom didn't have and that her mom didn't have. So my hope is that yeah, they have education and information that will ultimately lead to less deaths because of early diagnosis and just more knowledge about their own body and being their own advocate. And it's not just about their breasts, you know, it's about everything in their life.
Yeah. " And I and like you said, not a lot of doctors, you know, they know what they know and that's awesome and and such a amazing wealth of knowledge. Like you won't knock that in any way, but there's also these things that they didn't consider or didn't add to med school like your diet and how that can affect you. " I was like, you know, the antioxidants in blueberries, should I just be? And he was like, if you want.
And I'm like, first of all, I'm happy to go home and dig through the internet and do the research. But I was really surprised that he was like, and he was like a super highlevel specialist in melanoma. And for him to be like, well, I'm not really sure if there's any food component that can help. And I was like, well, I pretty sure there are some food components that can hurt. pretty sure my like daily diet of Oreos isn't really helpful.
Like it's just interesting that's not something that's coming out in the conversation. No. And I mean I had melanoma too and I was really scared, you know, and what I did was I to kind of do what I knew I could do. " And I mean, it's not like a breast cancer surgery. They're just kind of out of my arm, but still, I was really scared.
" And that helped me feel empowered, but it's not like my doctor was like supporting that or thought it would make a difference or anything, but it was it was more for me, you know. Yeah. But that's part of it, you know, your mental health, your feeling like you're bringing something to the fight is is also part of it. So, last question for you. any advice for other women who are trying to merge because I feel like you've gone into this in a really very cool way, right?
You've taken your creativity and like merged it with advocacy and business and even the business as a nonprofit, but you've gone about it in a in a different way. And do you have any advice for anybody who wants to try to do that? like who's maybe more on the creative end of things and isn't thinking in terms of, oh, I'm going to be an advocate. They're they're thinking they're a creative, but they feel passionate about something. Any advice for how they can make those changes or approach them?
I mean, I think my biggest advice is like you think like me, like I thought I was a fashion designer, which I was, but I thought my whole life like I would have this career as a fashion designer. And so my biggest but I don't you know like I don't live in New York right now. I'm not working, you know, I don't have my own Shaney Joe fashion brand or whatever, you know, like that's what I thought it would be like. But the biggest advice is to like really physically like open your ears like creatively like put your hair behind your ears like take a deep breath and like think of what does the inside of your ear look like and open it and like and really listen because there's signs that there's opportunities, there's invitations, there's signs, there's moments and if you're not really listening, you're going to miss it. And if I wasn't really listening to these moments of opportunities, I wouldn't really be where I am today.
And I'm so grateful that I get to use my creativity that I've had since I was born, that I had a full career as a creative, but I still get to do that in a different way only because of like my intuition and my and my hearing, you know, of like hearing intuitively and following instead of what like your parents think you should do or what your friends think you should do or what you think you should do or what you've been told to do. is like, yeah, listen to your intuition, open your ears is like my biggest advice to everyone. That's awesome. Okay. Is there anything else that we didn't go over that you wanted to share?
Oh my god, we could talk for hours. I know. I know. We Is there anything else though specifically that you're like, I need to mention this? I mean, the last thing is just for everyone to download the Keep a Breast app.
We have this beautiful app that shows you how to do your selfch check. It's available in three languages. is it'll send you an automatic reminder once a month because we all forget. So download the app if you don't know how. Many people don't even know how.
If you don't know how, learn how to do your selfch check. You don't have to be so clinical about it. You don't have to be scared. People are scared to do it. the app has great resources as well of like questions to ask when you go to the doctor.
many different things. So download the Keeper Breast app and my challenge is for everyone to share it with eight friends. We all have a text group in some way, right? So for you today after this, you know, podcast, you have to download it and share it with eight of your friends because one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime. But thank you for the tip.
We will definitely do that. I will and I will share that. Thank you so much for being on here today. I really appreciate it. Oh, thank you.
It was a pleasure. Thank you so much. Thanks, Shaneie. Hey, this is Danielle Davies and thanks for listening to Roar. If Sheny Joe's story reminded you that art can be activism and that education can be loud, unapologetic, and life-saving, I hope you'll pass it on.
Share this episode, leave a review, or tag us online to keep the momentum going. com and join our newsletter. That's where the real conversation continues. Next week, I'm talking with Lauren Albrech, director of advocacy and organizing at Garden State Equality. She's not just fighting for change, she's making it happen.
From legislative wins to increasing LGBTQ plus representation in politics, Lawrence reshaping what real advocacy looks like and how women are leading the charge. I can't wait for you to hear it.
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