VICKIE CARFELLO BIO
My name is Vickie Carfello, I am married to Lou Carfello and have 2 amazing boys Wilson (28) who lives in Ft. Worth and Louis (20) who is a junior at A&M Corpus Christi. I am originally from Charleston, South Carolina, but have lived in Spring, Texas for the last 20 years. I have spent my entire career in the HealthCare Industry, with the last 20 in the Pharmaceutical Industry.
My passion for getting involved with Women’s Cancer started about 10 years ago when I lost my best friend Robin to Triple Negative Breast Cancer at the very young age of 40. I knew I had to do something to make a difference but at that time didn’t know what it would be. About 4 years ago I accepted a job in AstraZeneca’s Women’s Cancer Division with a focus on metastatic breast cancer and ovarian cancer. It became apparent to me very quickly there were very few nonprofits in the geography I covered for Ovarian Cancer. I happened to meet an amazing lady named Aimee Friend who at the time was the Executive Director of Judy’s Mission. After meeting Aimee I started handing out brochures and information on Judy’s Mission to my customers, so that their patients had the additional support and information they needed on this journey. Aimee asked me if I would consider joining the Board of Judy’s Mission and of course I was honored and humbled. Since joining the Board I have stepped up to look at ways to partner with other nonprofits so that we can have a bigger share of voice and create more awareness around ovarian cancer.
This year I am co-chairing Wheel To Survive Houston with Dr. Pam Soliman. My goal is to make this event as successful as possible so that Judy’s Mission and Be The Difference Foundation can continue the work necessary to hopefully one day find a cure or early detection test for this disease. So far I have secured about $6,000 in sponsorship for the event, over $12,000 in donations for the auction and this includes food to be served and I have secured a kick off event at John Hardy Jewelry on 9/28/19 in which they will give 10% of sales that day back plus each person who stops by the store is entered into a raffle to win a piece of jewelry. My personal fundraising goal for this event is $5,000. My passion for making a difference for women battling this disease is unwavering and will not end until we make better strides in an early detection test and medications that eventually improve overall survival for these women! I lost a dear friend to this horrific disease in February 2018, so I will again ride in her memory!
What I bring to the table is an unwavering passion to make a difference, exceptional networking skills to form partnerships that increase our ability to get more depth and breadth, creativity/out of the box thinking on ways to raise money and I am not afraid to ask anyone to donate to this cause. My goal is to have the TEAL ribbon as prominent year-round as the pink ribbon. I would encourage each board member to ask Jon or Shannon about my passion and enthusiasm for this disease. I am so excited to be on the Board for Be The Difference Foundation and helping the organization achieve its mission by truly making a difference and creating more awareness around this horrific disease.