Cindy Campbell – September 2022
Cindy Campbell is the founder of three nonprofit initiatives, including the Ty Louis Campbell (TLC) Foundation, the Muddy Puddles Project, and the Pret*ty Store. All of which support childhood cancer research initiatives through the TLC Foundation. In 2018, Campbell was named Program Director of the Children’s Brain Tumor Project at Weill Cornell Medicine, a research lab focused on improving outcomes for children with brain tumors.
Campbell’s oldest son, Ty, was diagnosed with a brain tumor when he was 2 ½ years old, and he passed away just days after his fifth birthday. Her son’s cancer journey inspired her to change the course of her life and redirect her focus toward changing the paradigm for other children faced with a cancer diagnosis.
Since its inception in September 2012, the TLC Foundation has funded 14 research initiatives, an ongoing fellowship, and an international research conference for rhabdoid tumors in children. They have hosted more than 20,000 event attendees over the years and generated more than 27,000 combined followers on social media. Campbell has been featured in eight national news segments, including the Today Show, Katie Couric, Sirius Radio Morning Mashup, and Ken Burn’s documentary series “The Emperor of All Maladies” on PBS.
Prior to changing her career to focus on philanthropy while helping kids with cancer, Cindy was a marketing director at PricewaterhouseCoopers and she was previously employed at various PR agencies including Weber Shandwick and Cohn & Wolfe earlier in her career.
Cindy lives in Pawling, NY with her husband, Lou, and sons Gavin (13 years) and Bodhi (6 years).
Speaking Hope into the Lives of Others
Sandeep Kapoor, MD, MS-HPPLA voice stating, “you are not alone,” left a longstanding imprint on the life of our TEDx speaker. The journey of life we travel is populated by an inherent need for acknowledgement— that feeling of being heard, understood, respected, and valued. There is a need for genuine self-reflection to understand the stigma we portray with our thinking, words, and approach. As healthcare professionals, and beyond, we must reframe and realign our approach to substance use disorder (SUD) and addiction. Dr. Sandeep Kapoor describes the chronic illness SUD represents, and the resounding necessity for improved care, compassion, and empathy. Those 4 simple words — “you are not alone” – can motivate the sensation of feeling comfort, relief, connection, and hope in the moment of crisis. We all have power to speak hope into the lives of others.
“Hiring People with Differing Abilities Is Good Business”
Hiring People with Differing Abilities Is Not Altruism, It is Good Business. The United States faces a labor crisis and part of the solution will come from hiring people with disabilities. While we could argue that hiring people with disabilities is the right thing to do, we posit a simple idea: hiring people with differing abilities is not altruism, it is good business. We make the business case how hiring people with differing abilities not only fills open jobs, but improves morale, productivity and retention and helps recruit other workers. Those businesses that hire people with differing abilities earn a competitive advantage. We urge employers, “Don’t be blinded by a person’s limitations, be awed by their possibilities.” John and Mark X. Cronin are the father-son team that founded John’s Crazy Socks, a social enterprise with a mission to spread happiness. John is an entrepreneur who just happens to have Down syndrome. More than half their employees have a differing ability and every day they work to show what people with differing abilities can achieve. They have bootstrapped their business into the world’s largest sock store, an internationally recognized, multi-million dollar enterprise.
The Cronin’s have been named EY Entrepreneurs of the Year. They have testified twice before the U.S. Congress and spoken at the United Nations. They are frequent keynote speakers. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx
What Do We Want to Bequeath To Our Children?
A discussion about racism from the personal perspective of a white Jewish guy from Newark NJ: Taking advantage of our backgrounds to fight racism. Overcoming our backgrounds to do likewise… Michael Klayman is an still energetic Rabbi with 40 years experience in various congregations on the East Coast. He has worked extensively with all ages: From toddlers to senior citizens. Rabbi Klayman is known for his work with pre-teens and teens in formal and informal Jewish education settings.
He is co-author of Sharing Blessings: Children’s Stories for Exploring the Spirit of the Jewish Holidays.
His passions include teaching, folk dancing and playing the accordion. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx