She Helps Breast Cancer Survivors in BHAM and Beyond

For Lauren Roberts, every month is Breast Cancer Awareness Month — not just October. As executive director of Forge Breast Cancer Survivor Center, she spends every day helping people impacted by the disease. Now, Lauren and her team at Forge will be able to support even more breast cancer survivors. (Forge recently received a $1.5 million grant from the state to expand services beyond Birmingham to South Alabama and into the Black Belt!)

Lauren joined the Forge team in June 2020, but her passion for helping breast cancer survivors began long before she took the helm. Both her mother and grandmother battled the disease. Despite the mental, physical, and emotional toll of breast cancer, Lauren and the team at Forge are determined to spark joy in the hearts of those affected. One way is through the Haute Pink event, Forge’s marque fundraiser. For the annual event, ten designers are paired with Forge to create a custom outfit for a special fashion show. This year’s Haute Pink event will be held on Wednesday, October 12, at The Fennec. We are honored to introduce our newest FACE of Birmingham, Lauren Roberts of Forge Breast Cancer Survivor Center.

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For people unfamiliar with the organization, how does Forge support breast cancer patients, survivors, and their families?

Forge supports and empowers Alabama breast cancer patients, survivors, and their loved ones from the date of diagnosis through the rest of life. We provide a host of resources, like a peer match who had the same diagnosis who will walk beside you on your journey, Lyft rides or gas cards to get to medical appointments, grocery cards for nutrition, free mental health counseling, support groups, lifestyle and wellness classes, questions to ask your doctors, and much more. We’re also excited to announce that in 2023 we will launch a new hardship fund to help pay rent and utilities for those going through treatment. In a nutshell, our goal is to help solve any obstacle that stands in the way of healing.

Forge recently expanded its reach to South Alabama. Tell us more about that.

Now that Susan G. Komen has closed its office in Alabama, we are the only organization serving breast cancer patients and survivors across the entire state. We hope one day to be able to serve and support all of the one in eight women and one in 1000 men who will be diagnosed with breast cancer from Brewton to Huntsville and everywhere in between.

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How did the idea for Haute Pink come about?

We were looking for a way to celebrate our clients and volunteers — to make them feel beautiful amid a diagnosis and treatment that often takes away the things we usually think of as “female” [such as] hair, breasts, eyelashes, etc., while also sharing their compelling stories with those who may not have experienced breast cancer. We knew we didn’t want to create another walk or run, and we thought a catwalk would be more fun! Our tagline for the event, Designed to Inspire, really sums up our goal for the event: partnering with local fashion designers to create something unique that honors our clients’ cancer journeys, inspiring everyone else in the room.

Other than raising funds, what do you hope Haute Pink achieves?

Obviously, raising funds to sustain our organization and continue to expand across the state is important, but so is creating awareness of what a breast cancer diagnosis and treatment entails, the physical and mental difficulties endured by our clients and their loved ones, and authentic stories told first-hand by those who have been impacted by breast cancer.

We want Haute Pink to offer everyone a night of celebration, hope, and inspiration. To that end, we provide hot pink boas to everyone in attendance who has been diagnosed and ask them to stand and be celebrated alongside the models. While we feature 10 of our clients, the night is not just about the models; it’s about everyone who has been impacted, from pre-vivors (those who had prophylactic mastectomies because of high genetic risks) to those who are living with metastatic breast cancer. No two stories of diagnosis and treatment are the same. And everyone deserves to be celebrated and supported.

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What’s one thing you wish more people knew about breast cancer?

I wish people understood how prevalent it is. We talk about one in eight women and one in 1000 men, but what does that look like? That looks like 325,000 Alabamians — enough to fill an SEC football stadium more than three times! And while we are so grateful that research has improved treatment and outcomes, there are 4,500 people diagnosed in our state every single year, and they are living longer with the financial, emotional, and physical fallout that a breast cancer diagnosis and treatment causes.

What do you like to do when you’re not working?

I love spending time with my family, especially outside. Whether that’s lunch at Back Forty or walking around Railroad Park, I enjoy their company and our beautiful, magical city!

What’s the best advice you have to offer?

I have a picture of my favorite spot on the Lakeshore Trail in my office. It’s right in the middle, and it shows a line with 1.25 miles written on both sides. It reminds me that there is always more than one way to reach a goal. You just may need to be creative and approach an obstacle from a different angle to figure it out.

Name three things you can’t live without.

My Adirondack chairs in my front yard, voice-to-text, and Dashing Diva press-on pedicures.

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Thank you, Lauren! All photography by Heather Swanner unless otherwise noted.

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Meet more inspiring women from Birmingham and across the South by visiting our FACES archives.