Tiah Tomlin-Harris still remembers the feeling of not being able to breathe when her doctor told her she had triple-negative breast cancer, a rare and aggressive form of the disease, at age 38. She was shocked and terrified of what she didn’t know.
When she brought a list of questions to her doctor, she was met with pushback. The former pharmaceuticals manager wanted to know if there was anything she could change about her lifestyle to prevent the cancer from spreading. But the doctor told her those kinds of adjustments wouldn’t change things, and she needed to focus on seeking treatment.
Still, she continued to research and speak with others in various stages of cancer. She found cancer education was hard to come by — especially for Black women.
“As I had more and more conversations, I noticed there was a gap in cancer treatment,” said Tomlin-Harris, who is now 47. “I had questions, and I needed to connect with people that look like me.”
She created an online support group in her hometown of Atlanta for other women on their cancer journey — particularly Black women, a population that is disproportionately affected by cancer and who often say they are mistreated by health professionals. According to the American Cancer Society, Black women are 41% more likely than white women to die from breast cancer, and 1 in 6 of all Black women in America will die from cancer.
During her research, Tomlin-Harris, who has a master’s in chemistry, learned that Black women are also exposed to more toxic chemicals from the hair and beauty products they use, like hair relaxers and skin lighteners, which have links to causing cancer. When she was diagnosed with cancer again four years later, she felt it was time to implement a healthier lifestyle and wanted other Black women to be aware of prevention efforts. In 2017, she turned her support network into a nonprofit organization, My Style Matters.
“I wanted to help women make healthier and…
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