by Tenesha Green | WeINSPIRE Reporter

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — “You have cancer.” Three words Timea Gaines heard from her doctor in 2015 and altered her life in ways she never expected.

Gaines, originally from Bowie, Maryland, is a proud graduate of Morgan State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mass Communications. 

After earning her degree, Gaines leaned into her entrepreneurial strengths, and understanding marketing to be “simply highly focused storytelling”. Gaines became the founder of brand strategy firm Love Life Media, LLC, in 2013. From this company, the event SheROCKS was born. Created to showcase, support, and accelerate women in the arts SheRocks “celebrate women who are culture curators changing our world.”

SheROCKS is one of the fastest growing events for emerging women artists and entrepreneurs. The event was launched in 2013 by brand strategy firm Love Life Media, to honor a commitment to help women thrive in the entertainment and business industries where they may not otherwise be recognized. Each year the event showcases women in performing and visual arts while creating ways to accelerate support among women entrepreneurs. The event also honors distinct women whose efforts have paved the way for the success of other artists and women in business. Since its conception, the event has been a hit boasting sold-out crowds, increased partnerships amongst women business owners, and significant exposure and success for all artists who have been showcased. Each year we expand our efforts so that women who are hometown heroes in cities across the USA, will be celebrated as they make history.  Through the years we have also honored our corporate responsibility through the event by partnering with various charitable organizations and programs to launch philanthropic initiatives geared towards the arts and entrepreneurship.

A few names from this year’s event included: Lateisha Melvin, Angelique Scott, and Symone Audain.

“This is my baby,” Gaines said. “It helps highlight women who are in a male dominated field. It also is helping women navigate the industry.”

The SheROCKS event is currently held in Washington, D.C. and Gaines is looking to expand to other states. “Everyone travels to D.C.,” she said. “I want to be able to reach people across the country and go to them.”

In 2015, while undergoing chemotherapy to treat breast cancer, Gaines pursued graduate school to attain her Master’s degree in Strategic Communications. In addition, she continued her work with both Love Life Media, LLC, SheROCKS, and was honored as a WeINSPIRE Ambassador.

“SheROCKS was still happening while I had cancer,” she said. “I was in graduate school while I had cancer as well. It was hard because my last semester I had the opportunity to be on campus to submit my thesis but I couldn’t.”

Even still, in May of 2015, Gaines crossed the stage at Liberty University with a 4.0 GPA. “There was immense gratitude to God and to my family,” Gaines said. “Oh my God, I really could have not been here.”

Fast forward to February 10, 2016, a day that will forever remain special for Gaines.

“I was declared cancer free,” Gaines said.

A positive diagnosis at hand, a new degree earned, a business to run, and Gaines faced another hurdle. She quickly realized that a full return to her life before the cancer diagnosis was going to be harder than expected: physically, emotionally, and mentally. She needed a re-integration of sorts and though grateful to be a cancer survivor, wanted more than that label..

“I realized that there is no discussion about cancer survivors post-cancer experience,” Gaines said. “It is something that needs to be focused on. Survivors were dealing with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), filing for bankruptcy, denied disability, and even experiencing discrimination in the workplace because of this aliment.” 

Realizations around the challenges of life after cancer like a need for reintegration and the challenges, like PTSD that survivors face, Gaines was motivated to survey over 105 survivors. In the process, she realized and surfaced an urgent need to help educate survivors and their families. Gaines has founded the charitable organization Fight After the Fight, Inc. which will provide programs for families and survivors to better understand what has and is happening. Fight After the Fight will also strive to raise cancer survivor awareness and conversations around the sensitivities of communication with survivors after cancer.

“A survivor is not all that we are,” she said. “We were people before we had cancer.”

Gaines realized that cancer survivors even have triggers that can cause them extreme discomfort. Survivors guilt amongst the biggest of triggers. 

“Telling a survivor about your family member that has recently died of cancer can trigger that person,” she said. “It makes us think should I really walk in my glory while other people are mourning their loved ones?”

Gaines shared, “Cancer is part of my story but it is not who I am.” and encourages anyone who is going through a rough patch in their life -- it will get better. 

“As long as you have breath in your body, you still have a purpose,” she said. “You have the ability to move towards something greater.”