As the Breast Cancer Research Foundation turns 15, Evelyn H. Lauder looks back
Breast health: According to Lauder
“Stop smoking, consume little alcohol, and don’t become overweight. Each of these three things increases the risk of breast cancer, and research shows that a healthy lifestyle plays an important role in breast cancer prevention,” she says. In 2006, she published the book, “In Great Taste: Fresh, Simple Recipes for Eating and Living Well. “It was a testament to my belief that eating well is essential to looking and feeling good and to show others that it is possible to eat in a healthy manner and derive a tremendous amount of pleasure from food. My recipes use a variety of ingredients, such as whole grains, and antioxidant rich whole fruits and vegetables, which are healthful.”
INTERVIEW. It’s hard to remember a time when the pink ribbon wasn’t the symbol for breast cancer. Actually, it was just 16 years ago, when Evelyn H. Lauder began a program along with former SELF magazine editor Alexandra Penney, in which Estée Lauder staffers passed out little rose colored ribbons at their beauty counters to make their clients aware of the disease ravaging their demographic. Since then, Lauder, who is now senior corporate vice president of the beauty brand, has helped raise $35 million for The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, which she founded 15 years ago, and $220 million to help finance research at medical institutions in countries including Australia, Canada, Latin America, the Middle East and Europe. “The BCA Campaign shows how one tiny idea can be expanded beyond anyone’s wildest dreams. At the end of 2008, we will have distributed over 80 million pink ribbons around the world. Everyone recognizes that ribbon today!” Lauder says.
What is your personal connection to breast cancer?
I have known many, many people whose lives have been affected by breast cancer. Sadly, so many of us have friends or relatives who have been affected. On my travels with the BCA Campaign, I have met thousands of women who are breast cancer survivors. They are all remarkable women and I feel inspired to keep fighting to beat this disease every time I shake one of their hands.
Estée Lauder has had a long-standing relationship with Elizabeth Hurley. What makes her a great spokeswoman for breast cancer awareness?
People relate to Elizabeth because she is smart, a beauty and a celebrity legend. She has been a friend to me and to the Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign for years and is tremendously supportive. We owe a lot of our success to her. I first asked Elizabeth to join our BCA Campaign in 2000, when we launched the Global Landmarks Illumination Initiative. That year, we held the kickoff at The Empire State Building in New York City and received incredible worldwide media support that has grown ever since. We didn’t realize at the time how powerful this program would become.
In all of your years with The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, what are you most proud of?
I’m the most proud of our great researchers and the quality of science they have contributed over the years. The Breast Cancer Research Foundation is celebrating its 15th anniversary this October and our grant dollars have provided crucial support for clinical studies that have resulted in the development of successful new breast cancer treatments such as Herceptin and Avastin, the finding that low levels of Vitamin D may cause increased risk of breast cancer, and the nutritional study known as, WINS (Women’s Interventional Nutrition Study) that has shown that a low-fat diet can prevent breast cancer from developing or recurring. Something else I am proud of is bringing breast cancer out of the closet and encouraging editors to write about breast health. It was a taboo subject and once editors began writing about it, it really hit a nerve with their readers. The more knowledge there was about the disease, the more open women were in discussing it. Women are no longer as terrified as they were in the early ’90s. The whole attitude changed. This was also a tremendous incentive to physicians to upgrade their diagnostic tools and their research.
From your experience meeting women all over the world, what is the biggest misconception you’ve seen women have about breast cancer?
One of the most common misconceptions we hear is that if a person is young and a lump is found, the lump is unlikely to be malignant. You should always, always see a specialist if you find something. Every year, younger and younger women are being diagnosed with breast cancer. There was, and still is, a real need to spread information and to raise funds to support research about detecting, curing and preventing breast cancer. We need to reach these women and all women with the message of early detection because if breast cancer is detected early, it is 98 percent curable. Women need to check their breasts regularly and get a mammogram every year if they are over the age of 40. The more a woman knows about her body, the more she knows about her health, the more proactive she is, the more in control she is, and the less frightened she is and better able to cope with any kind of diagnosis.
