Kimmy Fasani on advocacy, discomfort and hope
In this conversation we sit down with the legendary professional snowboarder, mother, entrepreneur and breast cancer survivor Kimmy Fasani.
Firstly we talk about her current situation, her journey through the breast cancer fight and her use of social media to share her story and as a survival tool. As October is the Breast Cancer awareness month we dig in the story behind the awareness campaign she has done together with Burton Snowboards, the truth, the hope and the also the less relatable moments.
Kimmy tells us about her coping mechanisms and how her athletic lifestyle has allowed her top be a better patient. She also acknowledges her privileged position and tells us about her and her husband’s intentions and goals with the Benchetler Fasani foundation.
We also dig in the topic of motherhood and the taboos, the missing pieces and the bright future ahead.
It’s a conversation full of fights and struggles with the most intense hope and positivity lens you could imagine.
Kimmy Fasani has been a Professional snowboarder for over twenty years. She has always pushed the female snowboarding scene, not by only achieveing tricks never done before, like when she was the first woman to land a double backflip in a snowpark and in the back country back in 2011 but also by pushing the limits everywhere she could.
She was one of the only women to film with Absinthe Films and she earned her parts in male dominated crews and movies, like the one in the Standard Films movie 2112 where her and Anne-Flore Marxer where the only female riders featured. But also stood up for equality and progression hosting events like Amusement Park and Amusement Mountain which were events to help expedite women’s learning curve and progression in snowboarding.
In 2017 she won the Snowboarder’s Women rider of the Year Award and after that in March 2018 she became a mom. Then an there she did another huge step advocating for equality when she announced that she was planning to continue her career as a professional athlete and had negotiated the terms with her main sponsor, Burton Snowboards, to not only support her through this journey but put policies in place to allow others to do the same in the future.
If you don’t think this is an inspiring life story just yet, let me tell how in 2019, just few months after having her second baby, Zeppelin, Kimmy was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive inflammatory breast cancer. She underwent 10 months of treatment, including 6 rounds of chemotherapy, a double mastectomy, and 30 rounds of radiation. As of now, Kimmy has had a complete pathological response to chemo and surgery so she is cancer free.
Throughout this difficult journey Kimmy has shared her experience very openly on her social media channels and has become an inspiration and a source of strength and hope for many.
Today I have the pleasure to sit down to talk to her about her journey, her choice to go “public” on this challenging times and the things to come. We get real and dig into the uncomfortable topics and hard moments, but if there is one thing I can tell you is that Kimmy is no stranger to the discomfort and nor scared to embrace it, she sheds hope and positivity like I have only seen few people do.
Tangible tools and lessons learnt are just her gift to us at the end of the conversation. So if you are only going to listen to one podcast this month, make sure this is the one.
You can follow Kimmy's journey on her Instagram and support the the Benchetler Fasani Foundation here.