We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Corinne Christian. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Corinne below.

Corinne, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Is there a heartwarming story from your career that you look back on?

Fighting Pretty is an emotional support nonprofit dedicated to helping women battling cancer feel strong and beautiful. We provide community, education and care packages to women battling any type of cancer, at any stage of treatment/survivorship. Our signature is our mini boxing gloves, reminding women to stay strong and never give up. Last week, I was on a call with a woman on the opposite side of the country. We were chatting about our separate organizations and possible collaborations. I told her the story of our founder, Kara, and the original gloves. The woman started bouncing in her seat and said “I have those gloves! I got your gloves!” It turns out she had gotten treatment at one of the cancer centers we partner with through our Strength & Beauty program and had received one of the Kits we donated. The gloves now hang from her rearview mirror.
In a small town in Ohio, a woman had just received news that her cancer had returned. To show support for her and her family, over 100 people in her hometown and neighboring towns ordered our Fighting Pretty mini gloves to hang in their cars. Every time this woman drives down the street, she sees cars with mini gloves in them to let her know that the whole town is fighting alongside her.
One of our Brand Ambassadors survived leukemia when she was 18. Her aunt gave her a pair of mini Everlast gloves to help her keep fighting. 16 years later, the same woman was diagnosed with breast cancer and we sent her a pair of our mini gloves. Now, both pairs go with her to every appointment because she beat this once and she knows she can do it again.
At Fighting Pretty, we have so many stories like these, women who are strong, fierce, beautiful and amazing and fighting every day.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I joined Fighting Pretty 5 1/2 years ago. I’d had my second child 3 months earlier and was going absolutely crazy. I needed something where I felt like I was having an impact, something other than nursing, changing diapers and finger painting day after day. When I met Kara, the founder of Fighting Pretty, we were instantly on the same page. This organization is her baby, and I want to help it grow and thrive as much as I can.
Kara started Fighting Pretty after her own battle with stage 3 breast cancer. A family friend gave her a pair of mini boxing gloves and (along with some hot pink lipstick) they quickly became her symbol to stay strong and never give up. After Kara finished treatment, another friend was diagnosed, so Kara packed up the gloves and some lipstick and sent along the first unofficial “Pretty Package”. For 7 years, we sent Pretty Packages to women in all 50 states and 12 countries around the world. Then COVID hit and everything ground to a halt. Our team was sitting on a zoom staff call and talking through how women were still getting diagnosed everyday, still in treatment everyday – and now was even scarier because they were already immune-compromised, isolated, and now they couldn’t even take someone with them to potentially scary and life-changing appointments and treatments. We knew Fighting Pretty needed to step in. I get to work with hospitals, treatment centers, and support organizations all over the country to provide our Strength & Beauty Kits to their patients. These Kits contain our mini boxing gloves, a clean lipstick, and a card with Kara’s story and ways women can connect to Fighting Pretty.
I am so grateful for the relationships I’ve built at Fighting Pretty. Not the least of which are our Ambassadors. Fighting Pretty has 6 Brand Ambassadors all over the continent. These women are all at different stages of life, facing different cancers, and they are incredible! So strong, hopeful, vulnerable, and truly Fighting Pretty. I also get to mentor our Student Ambassador Teams. These are groups of students at colleges/universities who have been impacted by cancer and want to help others. These young people are passionate, innovative, and so compassionate. It’s an honor to work with them to help more women battling cancer feel strong and beautiful and see them go on to become impactful adults.
Fighting Pretty hosts monthly zoom support calls based around topics that health care teams may not have the time or opportunity to cover during cancer treatment, from sex and connection to clean skincare to nutrition and meditation. The women in our community embrace one another through good days and bad, through No Evidence of Disease certifications and recurrences of all types. I’ve attended funerals, weddings, and celebrated births with these women. They are truly Fighting Pretty.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Prior to Fighting Pretty, my most recent long-term position was as the Office Manager in a corporate consulting firm. This company talked prided themselves on investing in their employees and providing ongoing opportunities and promoting work/life balance, however that was nowhere near my experience. While there were many incredible consultants who were highly dedicated, caring, and compassionate, the leadership team was not. I saw numerous leaders blame their team members for mistakes, or dodge taking responsibility at any cost. They routinely spoke down to the office/support staff, held them to ridiculous double-standards, and made demands at all hours of the night/weekends. When I started working at Fighting Pretty, I expected my Executive Director to hold me to similar standards (even more so because she’s also the organization’s founder). It took me months to learn that there would be no humiliation/berating to admit that I had dropped the ball on something, or that she would understand if I didn’t respond to an email until the next day. I had to relearn how to truly be part of a collaborative team where all members are considered valuable and cared for – what a concept! I am so grateful for the environment at Fighting Pretty, and how much we respect one another.

Have you ever had to pivot?

For many years, Fighting Pretty operated of a donation/gift model. Anyone could go to our website and request a Pretty Package be sent to their friend or loved one. If they could make a donation to help defray our costs, great! If not, we sent the package anyway. By the end of 2019, we’d sent over 10,000 Pretty Packages to women in all 50 states and 12 countries internationally. Then COVID-19 hit. We couldn’t go to our office. We couldn’t host the volunteer events to help us create/pack the packages we sent out. We literally ground to a halt.
While sitting in a (zoom) team meeting one day, we discussed how women were still being diagnosed everyday, women were still in treatment everyday, and now things were even scarier because they’re already immune-compromised, isolated, and couldn’t event take support people with them to potentially very scary appointments and treatments.
We knew we had to step in. I started contacting hospitals and treatment centers across the country to see if we could donate Strength & Beauty Kits to them to distribute to their patients in active treatment. Our operations person spent hours alone in our office packing gloves, clean toxin-free lipsticks, and information about Fighting Pretty and sending them all over. The program was/is a huge success. Since April 2020, we’ve sent 15,000 Strength & Beauty Kit’s to over 65 hospitals, cancer centers, and support organizations in more than 25 states. These women need to hear that they are strong, beautiful, and not facing this battle alone!

Contact Info:

• Website: fightingpretty.org
• Instagram: @fightingprett
• Facebook: @fightingpretty
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fighting-pretty/
• Twitter: @fighting_pretty