October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. A month dedicated to the sensibilization towards prevention and to charity activities aiming at raising funds for the research of cure and treatment. But you probably do not know who the mother of its well-known symbol, the pink ribbon, is. Here we come to Evelyn H. Lauder.
Born in Vienna in 1936, Evelyn Hauser (later Lauder) not only she was a businesswoman, philanthropist, photographer, wife, mother, and grandmother, but she was also a breast cancer activist. She studied physiology and anthropology at Hunter College where she met her future husband Leonard Lauder, whom she married a year after graduation in 1958. She worked for many years as a school teacher before moving to her husband’s company, Estée Lauder Companies, where she became Senior Corporate Vice President. In April 1968, after reading an article in American Vogue Magazine on the importance of skincare, she founded her own brand as a subsidiary of the Estée Lauder Companies, Clinique, which was awarded as the first world's allergy tested, dermatologist-led line.
She was diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer, which was a source of inspiration for her future projects. Indeed, she made her personal experience the starting point for her career as a breast cancer activist. In 1989, Ms. Lauder organized a fundraiser to finance the opening of a specialized medical center, the Evelyn H. Lauder Breast Center at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, which provides pioneering breast cancer services. In 1991, she appeared in the first annual issue of Self magazine for National Breast Cancer Awareness Month discussing the topic with Alexandra Penny, with whom she founded the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. In 1992, with the release of Self magazine's second edition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, she formalized together with Penny the pink ribbon as the symbol for the breast health campaign. To spread her message and reach as many people as possible worldwide, she even created the Breast Cancer Awareness campaign together with Estée Lauder Companies. The initiative even included the distribution of pink ribbons and informative cards on self-examination at the Estée Lauder counter. Thanks to her husband's support, she was able to create a new shade named after the well-known 'Pink Ribbon' symbol in 1993, which enabled her to raise $120,000 from the sale of the Pink Ribbon lipstick and blush and $190,000 from the sale of the Clinique Berry Kiss pink lipstick in early 1995.
Her dedication was globally acknowledged with many awards including France’s Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur in 2002, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Partners in Progress Award in 2007 and she was included in the “New York’s 100 Most Influential Women in Business” list in Crain’s New York magazine in 1999 and 2007.
Evelyn H. Lauder passed away in 2011 from complications of non-genetic ovarian cancer. She dedicated her life to raising awareness of women's cancers, as a source of hope and opportunity for women struggling with invisible evils.
In conclusion, we would like to dedicate a thought to all women who struggle daily, to those who have fought and won, and to all women who have had a different fate. Evelyn has helped each and every one of them. In honor of her work and her legacy, this month we should try to take care of ourselves and our health by remembering that prevention is the first cure.
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