How does Yalonda Rice define strength?
Strength, to me, is courage. It’s being who you are and not making any apologies for it. It’s walking in your truth, not being afraid of being transparent—it’s owning who you are.
Cancer is prevalent in Yalonda Rice’s family. So much that her family formed a Relay for Life team back in her hometown of Baltimore, in 2005. Every year since then—for 16 years—her family has come together for the event, a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society (ACS).
Little did Rice know, she’d be working for the nonprofit one day.
Rice, 43, started out in journalism, working for the Baltimore Sun. She shifted into the nonprofit sector via a position with the Girl Scouts. When she moved to Pennsylvania to pursue her MFA, she applied for a job with the ACS.
“Every day, I’m giving back in a way that far surpasses my family’s original commitment,” she says. The nonprofit’s mission “to save lives, celebrate lives, and lead the fight for a world without cancer” resonates with her.
As Senior Development Manager for the Northeast Region for the past seven years, she lives in Millersville and oversees Central Pennsylvania ACS events—Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Central PA, Real Men Wear Pink, and Relay for Life Lebanon County.
“Relay for Life is a celebration of all cancer survivors—it spans all the ribbons, and when we’re talking about survivors, that’s the heart of it,” Rice says.
“My Aunt Cammie was diagnosed with breast cancer in the early 2000s,” Rice says. “She embodies the survivor story because she never gave up and was very transparent in her journey.”
At the family’s Relay for Life events, it was Aunt Cammie who walked the “survivor lap” at the beginning to start things off.
“She was such a motivator—the life of the party,” Rice says. “She would be there wearing her pink ribbons, encouraging us to get our checkups.”
Rice’s Aunt Cammie was a breast cancer survivor, but liver cancer ultimately and quickly took her life.
“Within the American Cancer Society, we talk about our why—why we do what we do,” Rice says. “My family is my why, and I press forward to honor my family. I want to continue building on my work for community advocacy, strengthening health equity reform in communities where screenings aren’t as prevalent, bringing my voice and experiences where I can make a difference in people’s lives.”
For more information on the American Cancer Society, see cancer.org.
