My friendship with Di was formed when we were together at a business retreat and I suggested we go for a swim. Nothing makes you feel as refreshed mid chaos as an ice cold river swim.
I could see Di was nervous and I wasn’t entirely sure why. I knew she’d had breast cancer, I knew she was given 365 days to live 14 years ago. What I didn’t know was that she was nervous about getting changed by the river.
She’d been through so much, yet this terrified her. Until… she told me, since her mastectomy Di had been subject to kids staring and pointing when changing in public changing rooms and she didn’t want to feel this with business mates she didn’t know that well.
Luckily for her, I founded a company called STOKEDNZ and our most popular product happens to be a towelie – a towel that doubles as a portable changing room too! And because I’m always up for any adventure, I always have a towelie in my bag and car. I threw one to Di and her eyes lit up.
I didn’t get it, it was just a towel! But to Di, it was a portable changing room which gave her back her dignity so she could change by the river in privacy, with people she didn’t know that well.
That moment has really stuck with me and four and a half years later, this was the inspiration for our ‘Show Us Your Tits’ campaign.
When we started throwing around the idea, we had little understanding of the prevalence of breast cancer in New Zealand and Australia. It blew my mind that one in 9 Kiwi women and one in 7 Australian women are diagnosed with it in their lifetime. Which meant it was highly likely Di wasn’t the only breast cancer survivor to have felt like this.
So we thought with the buy-in from Di, if we could get people to ‘Show us their Tits’ we could raise awareness and a heckload of cash for Breast Cancer NZ.
Our customers soon jumped on board and we were flooded with pictures of boobs. With nearly every picture came a story. A story of sadness, of loss, of hope, of immense gratitude and the tears began to flow every time another drawing was submitted.
Tessa
Tessa drew her before, during and after images.
Laurel
Laurel drew her two scars.
Bronny
Bronny drew a family portrait of boobs! Her mum, Dad and herself have all had breast cancer.
Dominee drew her boobs with two scars showing where the cancer was cut out. Britt drew her boobs, in memory of her grandma who survived breast cancer.
Seeing these pictures, I knew wholeheartedly that if these women were willing, it was their faces we needed in our campaign.
Despite being wildly outside of their comfort zones, four epic women said yes! We began the shoot with group images to ease everyone into it. We finished the shoot with them all recording videos with their boob drawings and what it meant to be a part of this campaign.
And the reasons for doing it were similar:
- showing the importance of self checking
- reflecting on how far they’ve come
- to raise a heckload of cash for the NZ Breast Cancer Foundation
- as a nod to their pals that weren’t as lucky in their journeys
I was openly in floods of tears by this point, they each had their own reasons for saying yes.
For Di, she had never seen a breast cancer photoshoot where anyone looked happy. Happy they’re alive, happy with their bodies. Instead there was always a profound sadness.
Di wanted to showcase her self love, her body acceptance, that yes breast cancer is a part of her story, but it’s not the only story. She’s here and she loves her life!
Laurel, a brave survivor, modeled for us because she wanted to confront her fears head on. After overcoming breast cancer, she set a personal challenge to do something that terrifies her each year, and this was it!
Since launching our breast cancer collection, we’ve raised over $35,000 for the Breast Cancer Foundation NZ. We’ve been inundated with messages of gratitude from survivors, people who have lost loved ones to breast cancer and messages of “thanks for the reminder, I’ve booked my mammogram”.
With the amount of traction we were getting, we wanted to showcase our impact. So we came up with the ‘boobometer’ with the tag line “help us fill these jugs”. It’s a visual representation of fundraising efforts and the response has been epic.
It’s been an incredible campaign and I’m so humbled to be using our business for good. It proves you don’t have to be a trillionaire to have impact.
We’ve encouraged people to get checks (make sure you do! Early detection saves lives), empowered people to feel comfortable in their own bodies and have donated 100 per cent of profits from our Breast Cancer Collection.
Let’s continue to honor those affected by breast cancer, advocate for early detection, and empower women to embrace their bodies—every shape, every story.
Together, we can make a lasting impact. Join us in showing your support, and let’s keep the momentum going!