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Story of Maimah

On February 28, 2006, at 4:45 p.m., Maimah was diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer. She had no family history of breast cancer; and was only 32-years old. While undergoing her second round of chemotherapy, she made a promise to God that if she survived, she would live her life in service to others, and create an organization to educate, empower, advocate for and support young women affected by breast cancer. After her second treatment, Tigerlily Foundation was born. Beginning in chemotherapy, Maimah grew Tigerlily Foundation from a concept to a national organization, with hundreds of volunteers nationwide, providing breast health, wellness and transformational programs to young women across the country.

In 2010, she received the Congressional Black Caucus Leadership in Advocacy Award, and the Running Start “Women to Watch Award”. In October 2011, Maimah was appointed to the Federal Advisory Committee on Breast Cancer in Young Women, a committee established by the Affordable Care Act, on which she works to develop initiatives to increase knowledge of breast health and breast cancer, for women under the age of 40 and those at heightened risk for developing the disease. She is regularly called upon to speak at/moderate panels on Capitol Hill, as a leader in the world of breast health, in addition to being a speaker at various leadership events focusing on women, youth, health, wellness, politics, advocacy and empowerment. Maimah has dedicated her life to transformation women around the world. She has travelled to the Caribbean to conduct breast health education campaigns. As a native of Liberia, West Africa, she is committed to educating women around the globe to educate women of color, minorities, those facing disparities, and women of all races and ethnic groups about health, wellness, prevention and advocacy.

She is an author, and speaker, and she has appeared in various media outlets, to include O, the Oprah Magazine, Essence, Ladies Home Journal, Cosmopolitan, Seventeen, Good Housekeeping, Harper’s Bazaar, Marie Claire, Redbook, Traditional Home Magazine and Cancer, Cure Magazine and more. She has also been featured on Fox 5, ABC 7, CBS, the Oprah Winfrey Show, OWN Network, Good Morning America, The Today Show, MSNBC and national radio stations. In 2009, Maimah was awarded a L’Oreal Paris’ Woman of Worth award, among others. Most dear to her heart is her 14-year old daughter, Noelle. Noelle is now an advocate in her own right, hosting a national event, , called Pajama Glam Party, where she engages girls to become advocates and to have healthy lifestyles. She speaks to the media and is interviewed on her perspectives on youth advocacy, girls health, and leadership.

In 2010, Maimah published her memoir, Fearless: Awakening to my Life’s Purpose Through Breast Cancer, which was a best-seller. She is a sought after speaker, presenter and panelist. Maimah is also a Huffington Post blogger. In 2013, she founded Bliss Magazine, a quarterly publication that inspires others to live their soul purpose. She also hosts the “Pure Bliss” podcast on Itunes, monthly “Bliss Brunches” and quarterly “I AM Bliss” events, empowering others to live their soul purpose.

Story of Noelle

On February 28, 2006, at 4:45 p.m., when my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer, I didn’t really understand what was going on. I was only 3 years old. I was scared about what might happen, because she didn’t feel well often, so I would help to take care of her and put my toys in the bed to keep her company. Mommy talked to me about helping other people and told me she had made a promise to God. She asked me if I could help her, so it became our thing together. Tigerlily just kept getting bigger. I saw all the women that my mom was helping and how she was getting a lot of people to help. I asked her what I could do to help, so I asked her to have a fundraiser. A few weeks later, I had my first Cupcake Fundraiser with friends, and raised $600 in three hours! Once I saw what I could do, I wanted to do more.

Mommy and I did yoga together, ate healthy, exercised, and she was always looking for ways to stay healthy and get stronger. She took me with her to conferences and meetings, and she was helping a lot of people. I wasn’t as scared of breast cancer as some of my friends were, because I knew I could do something about it, so I wanted to plan a big event, to get girls and moms to talk about breast health, healthy lifestyle, education, empowerment and ways to lower their risk of breast cancer – in a fun way, like mommy explained it to me. I came up with the idea for Pajama Glam Party.  Today, Pajama Glam Party has become one of Tigerlily Foundation’s biggest events. I’ve been asked to be an Ambassador for GirlsHealth.gov, been interviewed by Joan Lunden and done a lot of interviews on t.v., to talk about how important it is to help others. I have big ideas for the future and I hope you can join me in hosting Pajama Glam Parties across the country.

If you’d like to be on the Planning Committee for Pajama Glam Party in Washington, DC or Host a Pajama Glam Party in your community, email pajamaglam@tigerlilyfoundation.org, and tell us how you want to help.  Subject:  Pajama Glam Party, and we’ll get you started!