For the past several years, Marianne Gagnon has worked as a program coordinator, graphic designer and social media manager for several non-profits. Marianne is a creative thinker who is eager to grow her clients’ positive impact on their communities. Fluent in French and English, she is in charge of translation, French social media, administration of the French website, fund raising and grant writing, as well as coordinating special projects for Save Your Skin Foundation.

Though she had little knowledge of the oncology field when she first started at Save Your Skin Foundation, Marianne is now a strong believer in the importance of the work done by SYSF to support and advocate on behalf of those affected by skin cancer, as well as educate the public to reduce its incidence in Canada.

Lise Cole (nee Richard) began her career in nursing where she spent nine years working primarily as an Emergency and ICU nurse. She then transitioned into the pharmaceutical industry to a sales position developing relations with pharmacists and coordinating marketing events.

Lise joined L’Oréal in 2000 working for the medical division, La Roche-Posay Laboratories, as a sales representative visiting dermatologists in Ontario and the Maritimes.  She then became National Medical Manager working alongside key opinion leaders in Dermatology.  In 2018 she was given the role of National Business Development with a focus in oncology.

She is a passionate advocate for the prevention of skin cancer.  Lise is fluent in French and English, and enjoys being a volunteer for Track 3, a charity enabling kids and youth with disabilities, to learn how to ski. Her other interests include cross country skiing, snowshoeing, cycling, sailing and yoga.

“I am honored to work with such a passionate group of people whose main focus is supporting and educating patients touched by cancer.”

Taylor Tomko (B.A) is currently a student in the Masters in English program at the University of British Columbia with a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Graduate Scholarship, and her academic record holds multiple conference presentations and essay publications. Taylor has a long history with the Save Your Skin Foundation, which began with volunteering for the organization while she was in high school, until she accepted a permanent position with the Foundation in 2014. Since then, she has brought her writing expertise to the Foundation as a Project Coordinator and Content Writer. Taylor’s other work experience includes University of British Columbia Access and Diversity, and she continues to volunteer for literary initiatives in Vancouver.

The experience Taylor’s family had with melanoma inspired the creation of the Save Your Skin Foundation, which strives to lessen the burden of melanoma on patients in any way possible. Therefore, she is pleased to be able to transfer her academic skills to the not-for-profit sector, and to be able to educate the public about skin cancer and how to prevent it, and directly help melanoma patients and survivors.

Natalie Richardson is a mother to identical twins, writer, and melanoma survivor. She now advocates to raise awareness about this deadly disease, is a spokesperson for Save Your Skin Foundation, and has been sharing the roller coaster journey on her blog, Impatient Patient Momma.

Natalie began her career in sales and finance with a collections agency in Ontario, and built on that a varied base of experience in the technology sector, as Analyst of Customer Support Programs at Open Text Corporation.  She then worked at BlackBerry Limited (formerly known as Research in Motion Limited), as Intranet Content Specialist.  After an extended maternity leave and several years of self-employment to be home with her daughters, Natalie returned to the finance world with Scotiabank, and then went on to be Cash Office Manager at a Loblaw grocery franchise.

Since her diagnoses of and treatments for metastatic melanoma and subsequent papillary thyroid cancer, Natalie has turned her professional focus to the community of patient support at Save Your Skin Foundation.  Natalie aspires to write a book; she is a noted contributor to several Canadian media publications, such as HuffPost Canada, The National Post, Her Magazine, and Yahoo! Canada.

For the past 20 years Lyanne has been working in small business management. The first decade in the financial industry and the last in the restoration industry. Lyanne has a passion for numbers, systems and the dynamic process of growing a business.

During the past year Lyanne has moved away from small business management to follow her greatest passion which is fostering mind-body wellness. Having her own medical challenges and two young boys with medical challenges has ignited her commitment to understanding how we best support ourselves while navigating the medical system.

Lyanne completed her undergrad in Psychology and worked on her Masters in Family Studies. In addition to working with the Save Your Skin Foundation Lyanne works in energy healing as a trained practitioner in Reiki, Heart Resonance and Complete Cellular Mind Body Alignment (CCMB).

Amy is a Marketing and Communications Specialist, based in Vancouver, BC. Amy graduated with honours from the University of the Fraser Valley with a Bachelor’s Degree in English Literature before earning a post-graduate Certificate in Journalism from Langara College.

With several years experience working in a busy agency setting, Amy has a wide variety of marketing skills from media relations and content creation to social media and graphic design. Amy has worked with such brands as Simon Fraser University, GoodLife Fitness, Escents, London Drugs Beauty and Electronic Arts. Amy has been working with Save Your Skin since 2014, while the foundation was a client with Karran Finlay Marketing, before coming onboard full-time as our Director of Marketing. She is grateful to be able to bring her experience to the not-for-profit sector in order to tell the stories of Canadians living with skin cancer and advocate for a better future.

Kathy prioritizes patient care and support. She was a key player in federal tanning bed legislation for Canada’s Youth and she continues this area of focus on education and awareness, providing emotional and financial support to those dealing with melanoma and carcinoma skin cancers, prevention, access, and support of the ongoing research and treatment of skin cancer – from melanoma to actinic keratosis. As both a melanoma and immunotherapy survivor, Kathleen and her Foundation hope to share the experience and knowledge gained, by leading other patient groups in knowledge and advocacy training to ensure equal timely access to new treatments for all cancer patients.

In 2003, Kathleen was diagnosed with malignant melanoma, and by 2005 she was informed that her cancer prognosis was terminal. With limited help but unrelenting effort, Kathleen’s sons were able to locate a doctor who was researching a trial immunotherapy drug. In 2006, Kathleen was given six months to live and it was at this time that she and her family founded Save Your Skin, to ensure that anyone diagnosed with melanoma would not have to travel this journey alone. Her battle with melanoma is ongoing – as long as the disease exists Kathy will ostensibly strive to fight it.

After completing her Bachelor of Education(ECCE) at Capilano University, Kathleen embarked on a career in business as a Corporate Accounting Manager, at Royal Bank of Canada. From there she moved into marketing and communications, as Stakeholder & Government Relations Manager at Insurance Corporation of British Columbia. She was the first woman to ever coach baseball in the Little League World Series. Kathy is also the recipient of the British Columbia Community Achievement Award for her leadership in addressing and raising awareness around skin cancer issues.

Louise Binder is a lawyer and health advocate who has been involved in informing the development of health policy and systemic treatment access practices from a patient perspective for more than 20 years. She started her work in this area in the HIV community in the early 1990s after her own diagnosis and before effective treatments were available for HIV.

She co-founded the Canadian Treatment Action Council (CTAC) in 1996, which successfully ensured access to treatments and quality care for people living with HIV by working with the federal and provincial governments and other relevant stakeholders to enhance drug review and approval systems, pricing policies and access to liver transplants for this community. She wrote a paper on universal drug coverage a decade ago while chair of CTAC.

She had a special interest in women’s issues, chairing the Ontario women’s organization Voice of Positive Women for more than a decade, and has been involved in these issues internationally as well. Two years ago, Louise began similar work in the cancer area and is presently a Health Policy Consultant with Save Your Skin Foundation. She has been recognized by many organizations for her work, including receiving an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from her alma mater, Queen’s Law School; the Order of Ontario from the Province of Ontario; and two Queen Elizabeth II medals.