Get in Touch President Betsy Nilan with the Daisy Wheel
By Joseph Weathered
For Betsy Nilan, 2016 was a year filled with tragedy and triumph. in April, Nilan suffered the loss of her mother, Mary Ann Wasil to breast cancer. Wasil was the founder and president of the Get in Touch Foundation, a non-profit organization whose mission is to provide free breast health education to young girls and boys.
Upon being diagnosed in 2004, Wasil founded the organization and created the Daisy Wheel, a cardboard wheel that provides eight tips for self breast examination. Serving as president of Get in Touch, Wasil took the organization global, with Daisy Wheels appearing in all 50 states as well as 34 countries. Nilan began as an office assistant and as her mother’s conditioned worsened, she began serving as acting president for the organization. After her mother’s passing in April, Nilan completed her education, obtaining a masters degree in women’s studies from Southern CT State University in May and took the reigns of Get in Touch. Now, Nilan is the face of the organization and looks to continue on with her mother’s legacy while creating one of her own.
Joseph Weathered: I never got the chance to meet your mother, but by all accounts she was a very influential and charismatic person. Growing up, what was it like to have such a prominent figure in your life that so many on the outside knew? Was it difficult to grow up under that shadow and influence?
Betsy Nilan: I never felt like i lived in the shadow of my mom; my mom was so great because she always lifted us up with her. She wanted to open up as many doors as possible for us, even when it came to stepping up as president for the Get in Touch Foundation. We never even had a real conversation about “is this what you’re going to do”, it just happened. When she was sick last year I shadowed her and she taught me everything that she knew and when she passed away, the board of directors asked me to step up as president, as I had already been the acting president at the time and it seemed like the natural thing to do.
JW: Describe what that was like; was it difficult to take the torch and start running with it?
BN: You know, when the board asked me to step up, there was no question in my mind that I absolutely wanted to do it. It was a very difficult time because my personal and work lives were completely combined; it wasn’t just our founder that passed away, it was my mother. But now, I am thrilled to be in the position I am in right now, to be able to build off of my mom’s work. I feel really blessed to step in at this time when things are so great and to be able to make it better.
JW: Please describe the now world famous “Daisy Wheel” that your mom created.
BN: The Daisy Wheel is an educational tool that has eight tips on how to give yourself a breast exam. It’s approachable, it’s fun for girls and it’s not scary or medical. It’s also beautiful; there is an image of a daisy and on each petal there is a tip. At the end of the wheel it asks you if you noticed anything and to not be afraid to tell your parents – to get in touch. It walks girls through the motions of doing a breast self exam, using the pads of their fingers and using light, medium and hard pressure.
JW: What would be a surprising thing about running an organization that people may not know or realize?
BN: I’d say behind the scenes it varies day to day. People ask me “so what do you do every day?” Sometimes I will be meeting with people about new initiatives and partnerships, I will meet with major donors and getting out name out there. I also take care of all of the administrative work on the back end of things, so everything from paperwork to cleaning the office. Luckily enough, I have a very strong board of directors so there is always someone I can go to if there are questions about anything.
JW: Did you find that intimidating at the start? Some people shrink at the level of work and some people run into the fire.
BN: I think you have to run into the fire if you want to be successful. I would always say to run into the fire.
JW: Your pink hair has now become a trademark of sorts for both you and Get in Touch. When did you come up with the idea and at this point do you look at it as a tribute, a marketing tool, a way to bridge the gap when you are speaking to young girls?
BN: It is 100% all of them. I think at different levels, it started as a tribute to my mom. I was looking through pictures the other day and came across a lot of pictures of my mom with her pink wig. It was light pink to hot pink and she wore it to chemo, along with a flower crown. Last year when my mom was very sick and got back from the hospital in January, I was her caretaker and I was home with her and we had always joked about how great pink hair was. So one day, I was going to get my hair cut and I spontaneously said “mom, what if I dyed my hair pink?”
At the time I was nervous because I knew I was going to step up as acting president so I knew I was going to become the face of this organization in some way and I didn’t know if it would be appropriate. I remember my mom was sitting on the couch, doing work on her laptop and she pulled down her glasses and said “Betsy, do it. Imagine the girls when you walk into a classroom and you go to teach them to do breast self exams and you have pink hair. They would LOVE that; think about the girls,” and so that was it, I was doing it. She loved it, I loved it and I said “this is it, this is the new me, this is my tribute to my mom.”
Whenever I go to a classroom, girls love the hair. Last week I spoke to a group of girls and their mothers and when I walked in the girls were so shy they wouldn’t even give their name to me. We sat in a circle and I made a joke about my pink hair to break the ice and they laughed and started asking me questions about my hair and then they started asking me about breast self exams and they became really comfortable. Its awesome to see girls transform; I know everyday what I do is life changing, so to have that experience makes me very happy.
JW: What does it feel like to be in that position in which you are educating and inspiring people? Do you consider yourself a role model?
BN: I absolutely would like to be a role model – I had a lot of role models; my mom was a role model to me. A lot of powerful women in my network are my role models. I look up to them and if young girls could look up to me in that way, to have a strong, female, feminist role model then that’s awesome, because I want them to be doing great, lifesaving work as well. That’s what the world needs, a strong, female support system.
JW: After everything that went on last year, do you feel now that you are finally over the hurdle? Do you feel like you’ve finally gone through it all and come out on the other side?
BN: I think i’m getting close to that point; I think it will take a little more time for me to really figure everything out, but I think I have come out on the other side. I don’t know how – I look back on last year and I don’t understand how I was able to deal with my mom’s death and then jump into this role. It was constantly changing the daughter and employee hat back and forth and managing that. I’m proud of myself or getting through it; I wanted to keep Get in Touch running. My mom always said “I didn’t do my job well enough if Get in Touch failed right after I passed away.” She did a really great job and I am glad to be carrying on her lie giving mission and legacy.
To learn more about the Get in Touch Foundation, visit http://getintouchfoundation.org.