Purpose in Pain: Christine Handy’s Journey from Surviving Cancer to Building Community

Hello, and welcome to B2B Weekly. I'm Terry O'Connell. I'm filling in for Tim this week. And we have a great show for you. I'm very excited to introduce you to our guest this week who has an incredible story, but before we do, let's hit a fun news story that connects to a couple different things we've talked about over the last few weeks in b to b weekly. The story this week is Mercedes Benz in their integration with Chat GPT. So, what they've done is they've actually been able to connect the Chad GPT API to their cars, the ones that are actively on the road right now, and through wear update, Mercedes drivers are gonna be able to use voice activation to talk to chat GPT in their car. The first thing you think of when hear this, might be that it's a marketing hoax, that it's a gimmick to kind of play to the headlines, get people excited, tap into the AI craze, but really that it's, you know, more of a headline than it is anything practical. We talked about BMW a few weeks ago, where they were launching an electric vehicle boat, which is really kind of a concept car, but in boat form for their regular EVs. Now, with Mercedes, there's definitely going to be some headlines and some excitement around this just because of the AI craze, but I've seen some really cool take that take it to a deeper level and really project that there is a larger business application here. So, first of all, there's the ability to learn more about your destinations as well as planned trips as you're in the car going to a spot. So if you're driving, you're going out of town, you're going to a wedding, let's say, a few hours away. You might not know about the city or account that you're going to. You might not know where you wanna go eat. You could talk to chat GPT and get recommendations. It could actually plan an itinerary for you while you're in the car driving there. I love history, so I know I would be using it to ask about the history of wherever I'm traveling to, the towns I'm going through, and learning a little bit more while I'm on the road. You're also seeing applications where people can use this as a way of entertainment for people who are in the car a lot for work, you know, people who are gonna be on the road for long commutes or even that are drivers for their roles, truck drivers, delivery drivers, sources online are even saying that this is a solution to the loneliness crisis where AI can provide companionship to people. Now, this is a first step where it's gonna be in a car and it's gonna be, you know, like co pilot. Someone that you can talk to, you can ask different questions, you can learn from, and it can entertain and fill time. So it's gonna be really interesting to see where this goes. I know I'm really fascinated by AI applications, especially when they're plugged in to existing platforms that we're already interacting with, so something like a car or like what Adobe's doing with their suite of product. We'll be following this one to see where it goes. Before we go into our featured interview today, I want to go ahead and preface and say that our guest has been through a very intense experience and really has come out of to have a lot of life lessons that I think we can all learn from. Her experience is outside of the b to b world, but as we were talking before the interview kind of prepping what we were gonna discuss here today. There were so many lessons that I felt were completely applicable to our world of creating educational media, working to build community and really helping people move from you know, being a knowledgeable person themselves, but into becoming a creator and having a strong voice where you can engage with your audience. So as we get into this conversation, I encourage everyone to be focusing on kind of communication where we start from as being honest, being really authentic, and how you can kind of reach your audience and really engage with them in ways that are gonna deliver them value, as well as make you a stronger presenter and a stronger person while communicating. So with that in mind, let's go to our conversation. Well, welcome. We are so excited to jump into this interview. Christine, thank you so much for joining us here on b to b Happy to be here. Thanks for having me here. We got a little bit of an intro, just a tiny kind of teaser of your overall story, which is pretty incredible. Thank you. As we start off, could you give our audience and everyone kind of listening here? A fuller picture, the the background of your story. So I've been a model since I was eleven years old, and I'm in my fifties. Actually, I always say my age. I'm not afraid of it, fifty three. So I've been modeling for a long time. I would I would be called a lifer. I'm also a motivational speaker, which came after my cancer diagnosis, I call myself, and I've been referred to as the breast cancer disruptor and the beauty disruptor for reasons we will talk about I'm also a mother of two sons, and I'm a speaker, of course, and a social media influencer, and I do a lot of humanitarian So you've got about seven different jobs that that you're working through. And I do a little studying too. That's incredible. And so take us through kind of where you went from a little bit more of a traditional a wild but traditional career in modeling -- Yes. -- to expanding into all these other fields and where you've really become someone who supported hundreds and thousands of people through their journey through a very difficult time in their lives. Yes. I hope it's hundreds of thousands, you know, by the time I'm done with this. So my traditional modeling career started when I was a child, and I thought that I mean, I I loved modeling, and it was a very good career for me. And I went to SMU and studied and got a bachelor's degree. And Good blessings. But even then, after my degree, I just went back into the modeling space. It just became kind of comfortable for me and something I knew and something I was good at. I showed up on time. I did my job, which is why clients asked me back. But it wasn't it was in my cancer diagnosis where I really felt like my beauty was going to be gone, lost, where I had to figure out really who I was inside, and ultimately, I went into the modeling space, more as a one as a model, but also as a mentor in the space. Meaning, like, when I'm on set with other models, I'm talking to them about esteem and how beauty doesn't rinse off. And really, you know, your beauty has to come from inside and it has to come from who you believe you are, not from what who society believes you are. And so I was able to take a lifelong career and bring it back into my life even after my chest dissected and even after scars and trauma because it was an audience. Right? It was a familiar audience and it was an audience that I say, this is how you should live your life. Not do don't do it the way I used to do it, which was very plastic and materialism. It was a way of living life? Now, I'll ask you one question here. Did you ever imagine that has you were starting off in modeling or even a few years down the line, did you ever imagine that you would be communicating with, you know, hundreds of thousands of people through a novel through being on interviews on live television, through creating a movie -- Right. -- all of these different platforms and channels? No. I, you know, especially when I was pre cancer, especially when I did not have a great self esteem. I I never imagined that I even had a voice, and it wasn't until really grave illness where I thought, okay, here's my shot. And so it just reminds me that there is no ceiling to what we can accomplish. If we really set our mind to something, there's no ceiling. And and there's no I'm fifty three years old, and I'm modeling in Miami swim week, and I'm modeling in New York fashion week, and I was never a runway model. So my life is really proof of the opportunity is there. You just have to go seek it. And and you'll get it if you put your mind to it and and and you make the effort. You gotta make the effort. You definitely make the effort. I I heard your schedule. It's pretty incredible. And you're pretty fearless too. I am fearless. That's one thing that, you know, whenever you're a creator, you are putting yourself out there. And you're putting yourself on camera you're sharing your expertise, and you're saying that you have something of value to deliver, and that's something that's a little nerve I'll say from personal experience, you know, going from a producer of shows and being a consultant for businesses, moving into a role where now. Occasionally, I'm jumping in front of the camera for something like this. You know, you have to kind of overcome that. You know, do your homework do your work to be prepared, but then be fearless when the time comes. Well, that takes a lot of courage. And there is time in my life where I had zero courage. And often, I needed to borrow it from other people who were showing me courage by showing up. But we can do that. Like, right now, I'm I get interviewed a lot because I want to show my courage because people will borrow that. And I think that's the community of people that we're trying to get to. That's that's really cool. Never heard it in that way before at all. I've never heard either. I kind of I I I thought about it several years ago. I was like, what am I really trying to do? And trying to lend my courage. And and and even in the modeling space, I'm showing up and modeling in bathing suits without a chest. I'm saying, this is who I am. This is what I'm trying to do, and people respect it, and it is showing courage because it's not easy to get up there without a chest and and model for Victoria's Secret or in Miami swim week. But if I can do to show people what courage looks like and bravery, I'm absolutely gonna do it. In terms of kind of sharing your courage and being able to borrow someone else's, this is such a small example and so much less important than what you're doing, but I'll just say co worker here at the office. Ben Thomas is kind of a big personality. He's done a fantastic job becoming an educator for the PRO space. But he is someone who has, you know, so much energy and is so thoughtful that he lends courage to many different people and I've seen him help and support many people through this office and through our partners, launch their own shows, kinda find their voice, get their earrings in their first few times, recording videos, joining podcasts, doing that sort of thing. But I think, you know, now that you've said that it's kinda triggering my brain where as marketers, our job is not to be the star of the show, really. Nine out of ten I think the best marketers are outside of the marketing department. But instead, it's gonna be, you know, we have to lend our courage and our expertise so that the really sharp thought leaders at your company, the engineer who's working on a product every day for the last twelve years, you know, so that you can elevate them, and they can have a voice, and they can share why what they're doing is so valuable. And you're doing this you know, to to support individuals who are going through some of the most traumatic times in their lives, which is a another level of powerful and empowering. You know, my takeaway for where we can do that in in our world of business is to say, you know, note, hey, we can emulate that, and we can be kind of a source of confidence and uplifting for people who are getting familiar sharing their voice for the first time. Yeah. Good for you. You're doing a good job. Well, in looking at what you're kind of putting out there and sharing, there were two really big things that stood out to me. So first was authenticity. It's something for our partners who watch this show regularly and tune in. You know, they know that we talk about this a lot, but you really share the very difficult times that you're having. You're not kind of gatekeeping yourself and you're not gate keeping some of those really challenging times. And I think that authenticity and that openness really helps communicate and opens the community up to then share their stories and do some of that kind of forward progress conversation that we always wanna have with our audiences. The other thing that I noticed is that you're really an educator. Yeah. You know, you've got so much knowledge and now in a wide range of fields -- Yes. -- that when you're on and creating content, you're sharing your knowledge, and it's in different platforms, it's in different ways, but you're kind of educating younger generations. You're educating survivors -- Yes. -- families of people who are going through this. So I thought both those two things were really cool and that's what really stood out to me. So I think that for me, authenticity is critical. It's always been who I am. I share the good, the bad, and the ugly, and I think as a branding standpoint, people trust you. That's not why I started to do that. I wrote a book about how vulnerable I am and and in my cancer journey, and that book has been popular. In fact, it's becoming a film. But I think that people are more, especially right now, more attracted to the human vulnerable stories. Mhmm. There are so many fake facades out there. Right? I'm a social media influencer, so I see it every day. And people ask me all the time, well, how do you how do you deal with that? Follow people that just post a picture that's use a filter and is not giving a good message, not giving an inspirational message. And I I feel like it's, like, going to the grocery store. You have to pick out good produce. Right? You have to pick out who you wanna watch every day because that ultimately is who we become, who we watch, who we listen And so my vulnerability is is like my superpower. And I love that point about kind of who you're picking to absorb content from and, you know, you kind of put out what you're consuming. And so when we about this in, like, the b to b world -- Yes. -- you know, are you really engaging with your audience, your community, your media? Is that somewhere that you're spending your time? You know, one of the things that we talk about is if you're sharing content, you can't create content, go online, post it, and then close out that LinkedIn tab or that Instagram tab or wherever you're sharing it, you need to share it, you should invite people to comment. You should be going out and seeing what people in your community are actually sharing. You should comment on their stuff because it's not a one way street, and you can't expect people to engage if you're -- Yeah. -- if you're just throwing it out that way. Yeah. Okay. Can we just talk about the elephant in the room with all the crazy storm? No. I think that authenticity is it has to be global in your business. Right? So if you're gonna be on LinkedIn and TikTok, and all these different socials, it has to be congruent. And so for me, my job I'm a model, but I'm modeling with purpose because I lost my chest. To breast cancer. So I went back into the modeling space to be a mentor and to have purpose. That's why I collaborated with Victoria a secret as a breathless model. I didn't go back and do that for me. I did it for other people to show that my self esteem was not dissected. Excavated, when my chest was excavated. And that's a deep personal conversation, but if you get on in New York fashion week or Miami swim week and you locate that, people are gonna feel like they're not alone. Right? And so if I do that with my humanitarian work and do that in the modeling space, and I do that as a speaker, and I do that as, you know, it in interviews. Well, then I'm I'm collectively showing who I am and what my product is. Right? Part of my product is post traumatic wisdom in of it is to show people that your self worth and self esteem is an inside job. That's kind of who I am and what I try to tell people and try to nurture people's self esteem because so often we get kinda diluted in society that our self esteem is dependent on other things, like materialism, and accolades. It's not. It's how you feel about yourself. So I think collectively, all the different areas that I'm working in my life have the same message. And I that's critical. So as we think about all that you're doing and you're connecting a lot of different things and kind of bringing that home in one place for your community. Can you tell everyone listening kind of what your home base is and how you started? Because you obviously, now you have this deeper connection. You have a large audience. You're being invited to speak on, you know, the morning news, and you're being interviewed in all these different places. How did you kind of get going as you were coming back and relaunching? Well, I've gone through a lot of hurdles like we have right now with the weather. And that's life. Right? And so when I first started out after my cancer diagnosis to build a community of people to help them. Right? To to focus on giving back. It started off with me writing the book, and then it led to me starting to become a speaker. And it was like, one thing led to another or to another kind of. It was a focus of mine. So I want to focus on inspiring and giving people help. Yeah. No. I mean, if you whatever you focus on, you really become. And so whether in work or professional or personal life. And so when I was focused on inspiring people, when I wrote book, that was a platform. But then I wanted a bigger platform because there were more people to help. So then I decided I wanted to be a speaker, and then decided I wanted to be a social media influencer. And so if you have a focus of what you wanna do, you can do it a lot of different categories of your life and a lot of different manifestations. But if it's all collectively, right, to give hope or to inspire, that's ultimately the message you're going to give in all of those ways. So this is something that as I connect to b to b, I'm gonna very delicately try to say this because where you're coming from is a much more important thing than what I'm gonna take it to, but the lesson I'm taking away is that you have such a strong core Yes. -- and philosophy and, you know, statement of how you're delivering value to people who give you the time to you to pay attention to what you're saying and what you're sharing. That message, that why is something that we talk about so much. And it's the Simon Synek philosophy of starting from why. Why are you here? Why is your message valuable? Why should someone give their time to pay attention to and you do such a great job with that. Well, it is marketing. Right? Even if I'm a marketer, so to speak, even though I'm storytelling, I'm marketing my story. Because I have a purpose in sending out a message of hope. But really, it's it's marketing and and I can do it in a way that's broad. Right? Because I have a history in the modeling space. And I'm now a social media influencer, and I can use my voice, whether it's an interview or on a podcast or in a speech that I do. And so technically, I'm doing the same thing. I'm marketing. I'm doing the same thing you're doing as a marketer. But we just a different of different why. Yeah. And when you're thinking about that, you're reaching out to your audience. How do you kind of get ready to be on camera, prepare to do these interviews, prepare for a podcast, what's kind of your prep? Well, I you know, my measure is different, I think, than most people's. I try not to measure my successes or failure years based on society. And I know that seems odd in the world we live in, but my measure is built on what I believe is subsidence in life, which is faith in in serving. And so if I can serve in the modeling industry, in the social media, industry in the speaking industry, then, you know, my measure is good. I feel good about what I'm doing and I feel about what I'm getting. And so that's from a business perspective, it I've been successful at that because I think I'm consistent. Mhmm. You know, I think my book was successful because it was very vulnerable. And I think that the social media part of it is also I do share a lot about about personally about what I've the pain and the trauma I've gone through. But the message is that here, I'm surviving. I'm here. I'm I'm still out there and thriving, really. And so I think if you can be consistent with your message and be engaging with your audience in a way that's authentic to you, then you have people trust you. And they want to engage with you. But if you put out different messages and on different platforms and you're not ultimately authentic with what you're doing, then I don't think you're gonna have a trusting base. That makes so much sense. It's something that I feel like I see way too often from brands is that you'll have like a paid spokesperson who doesn't really connect with a brand. And then you get backlash, you you see, you know, those as wasted dollars. But when you get someone who's, you know, on authentic fan, Right? Of a brand of a business, of a product. For us, you know, what we espouse and promote is, you know, your best marketers are probably not in the department. They're probably the people who've worked on that product for years. They're the people who are using it and finding value and benefiting from it. So it's going to those really authentic people and just starting from that as a base Yes. And I think right now, there's a push for micro influencers -- Mhmm. -- in the social media space because the macro influencers like the Kardashians. They're not selling the all the products. Right? People are looking at their socials for the beauty and for the glamorous life. But you have micro influencers like myself who have a very trusting audience who are really engaged and they want to if I promote a product that I'm getting paid to promote, I believe in that product. Yeah. First of all. And if I'm promoting it, then they trust me. And then maybe they'll try it or maybe they'll buy it. And so I think that's, you know, it's that's a shift in the market for micro influencing. Yeah. One of the amazing stats that always has stuck with me is that ninety two percent of people look for a trusted recommendation before making a purchase of a product. Interesting. So that's across the board. Be to b to b? Yes. That's gonna carry through even more if you're buying a hundred million dollar investment in manufacturing plant that you're putting in new machinery. Right. If you're looking for it when you're looking for a washing machine, people are looking for that when they're making those big b to b decisions. So true. So I love the point about kind of finding someone that's really authentic, going to a micro influencer. With b to b, everyone think about who could be an influencer at your company and kinda take on that role of being a micro influencer for these niche b to b spaces where they don't exist yet. You know, you have the expertise, you have the authenticity. The part that I just heard you talk about, which I to dive into a little bit more is the practice. You mentioned, you know, modeling since you were practically a child -- Yes. -- you've got a lot act as an you are absolutely killer in an interview and so polished and ready to go. For those of us who are newer to it myself included, I mean, getting the reps in how how important is that? Well, I mean, I can kinda speak on this because of runway modeling. I never I was never a runway model until I lost my chest. So I was always a print model. And so when I went back to modeling after I lost my chest to breast cancer, I had to learn how to be a runway model. I had to learn how to walk. I had to learn how to train my legs to do the runway. And so that took of practice. And I'm honestly, this is no exaggeration. Before each show, like New York Fashion Week, which are major shows. This isn't like a show down at Xoth Avenue. These are major runway shows or Miami swim week which is coming up. I start to wear my heels for month in advance. And I because that's the dedication Right? That's a dedication we need. And so I wear the heels to the gym. I wear my heels to the grocery store. And and I in Miami. So sometimes I'll have like really short shorts on and really high heels. And I show up at Publix at seven in the morning and I look like a hooker. But I'm dedicated to my job and I'm dedicated to inspire people. And if that's what I have to do to make sure my calves and my feet ready for the runway, that's what I'm gonna do. And so for us, it's just about putting in that dedication. And, you know, you might look a little goofy at some point. Who cares? But that's practice. That's how you some practice. Get ready to be ready to do it for real and feel really great about it when you're, you know, under the spotlight. Well, and that's a self esteem build. If I prepared for my job, I'm really prepared that I trust myself. So and same with you. If you work really hard and you put the time and effort you're gonna feel really comfortable doing this like we are right now. Yeah. That's such a good point. I heard a great line the other day. It was actually from a partner of ours, he was a sales guy at a business that does really cool stuff, remote operation of work vehicles. And he said, after his podcast, I think I did pretty well with that one. That was my second one. I think I did pretty well. When can I do my third? Because I'm gonna do so well. I'm gonna crush that next one. And I was like, you just got off. Like, you want I was like, wait, that's such a good philosophy. It kind of turned me around a little bit because I think people they do often, once you get on camera and you do a podcast, you often do feel like, oh, why did I build that up? You know, okay. I did actually a lot better than I thought. So that's number one. But I love the forward looking nature. He's like, yeah. That was my second time doing it. Why would I be perfect my second time doing something? When are you ever perfect at something. Nothing. It never happens. It doesn't exist. It shouldn't. That's phenomenal. So you definitely have to get the practice in. To be ready so that when the time comes, you're ready to go. In terms of kind of building your personal brand, and what you've done to be able to reach so many other people and share your story of hope, is there anything else that you'd recommend to an audience who again is a little newer to it. Well, I think you have to believe in yourself and that's sound so cliche. But, I mean, it's the truth. When I was modeling, maybe my biggest job other than my collaboration with Victoria's Secret. Recently, when I was young and and really quite beautiful. I felt really insecure and not like the model that I was because I didn't have the self esteem and I didn't have the belief that I was doing something important. But when I now, when I'm modeling, I know it's important. I know it and I have total faith in myself. That's why I wear the heels for a month because I trust myself to do a good job. So if you if you put your time and effort into your job whatever it may be and you trust yourself, you're gonna feel good about your job, you're gonna feel good about the outcome. And a change is a trajectory of your professional life, really. And look, if we're showing up, we're putting in We're showing However, many hours a day, you're putting into your work your job, what you're doing. You know, hopefully, you do really care about it and you find some good value in how you're benefiting the world. Receive jobs always says, how are you gonna make a dent in the universe? You know, maybe we're not making a dent in the universe at that level. But hopefully, we're doing something that moves the world a a little bit forward and makes it a little bit of a better place. So that's really cool to hear how you kinda found that in your second phase of modeling. And I think that's something that shoot. I will carry through -- Yeah. -- into this is, you know, start from the value. And you said in a much more positive way, but I also feel the fake it till you make it a little bit. Yeah. Once you're jumping in front of the camera, you know, hey, as you are getting in those first couple reps, you know, no what you know, have your value system, know your why like you talked about, and bring that all together and put on a brave face and get out there and do it. Try yourself. Trust yourself. Yeah. So really, those are some incredible teaching points that I know I'm gonna be taking away from this conversation. Before we wrap here, you work with some incredible organizations. Could you tell us a little bit about the humanitarian work that you're doing? So I love the humanitarian work because it is congruent with my value system and my mission. And so I work with I'm on the board of a company, a nonprofit called e Beauty. E Beauty is a whig exchange program. So I lost my hair during chemotherapy, but I was able to buy a wig. Wigs are expensive. And so but a lot of people can't. So e Beauty is a free resource for women who have lost their hair during treatment and would like a free wig. So you go to e beauty dot com and you put in the color and the cut and the style that you want, and we will ship out a free wig to you. And so the more people that know about it, the more people that will be able to use this resource, because it's free. And so many people don't know about it. And frustrating because I want all women to have access to a wig when they are going through treatment and lose their hair. And so if you can spread that word, I would really appreciate it. It's incredible. Yeah. Well, Christine, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for sharing your story and sharing such great advice to our audience here. Awesome. Thank you for having me. Well, everyone, thank you for joining us for this episode of b to b weekly. Thank you for joining us in the comments. I saw some shout out to our mustangs here both SMU alums. So appreciate everyone joining in the conversation. We'll see you next day for another episode of b to b weekly.