Dr. Jill Biden (Right), talks with breast cancer survivor Venus Ginés during a breast cancer awareness event in the East Garden, also known as the Jackie Kennedy garden, at the White House October 23, 2009 in Washington, DC.

That was one of the most important dates of my life, receiving this honor from our First Lady Michelle Obama as well as the encouragement from Dr. Jill Biden.
I will never forget her words to me as I shared how nervous I was in front of all those people and cameras.
Dr. Biden leaned over to me and said: “Venus, you are a cancer survivor, this is nothing compared to what you went through, I know you will do fine.”

Those words are etched in my heart forever, I did survive breast cancer and I’ve been empowered ever since to continue to motivate our Latinas to early detection, inform them about available culturally tailored resources, navigate them if they need additional follow-up services, and educate them via our amazing Promotores and Community Health Workers (CHWs).

Since then, our organization, Dia de la Mujer Latina, Inc. has trained and certified over 5000 Promotores/CHWs in Texas alone, with an add’l 3200 throughout 39 states, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, and Mexico.