Lisa Allen offers an inside look into the Pink Ribbon Foundation

In time for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we caught up with the lovely Lisa Allen, Head of Corporate Partnerships, PR and Events at the Pink Ribbon Foundation. She discussed her role with this inspiring grant-making trust and talked about how people can make a difference by donating, raising funds and helping to create awareness of breast cancer.

So, Lisa, could you tell me a little bit about yourself and your role at the Pink Ribbon Foundation?

I’ve been with the Pink Ribbon Foundation now for 23 years. Hard to believe, I know, looking at me! My role is very varied. We are a small charity. We have very little infrastructure and we operate with just three volunteers and myself.

So my role involves everything, including managing corporate partnerships, social media, events and celebrity engagement. The running of the charity on a day-to-day basis is what I do from home. I also work with some fabulous trustees. Jonathan Prince is the chair of trustees and he works alongside Liz and Angie. They do great work, facilitating the monies that get raised and awarding those grants to charities all across the UK.

What would you say you enjoy most about your role with the Pink Ribbon Foundation?

I love the fact that it’s varied, so every day is different. Obviously, myself and the rest of the team are making a huge difference. We support women and a small percentage of men affected by breast cancer. So that has got to be the best part, knowing that you are making such a difference to the lives of those people.

But I do really enjoy all the roles within the job, from liaising with fantastic companies like Glasses Direct to the celebrity side. I really enjoy working with the influencers and arranging events. There’s not any aspect of the job that I don’t enjoy. Part of being with the charity for so long is that the lines, I guess, between my personal life and my work life are very merged.

A lot of people that start as work colleagues or people that I’m working with on campaigns very quickly become friends. I’ve got a good social life out of it as well. There’s not anybody that we don’t work with that isn’t lovely. Everyone is just super nice, dedicated and enthusiastic to make a difference. And because we’re all coming together for a greater good, to really support those women and those men, it’s a lovely job to do. It really is. The charity sector is so nice to work in.

It’s also good because it allows there to be a lot of creativity as well. It means you’re very much on the ground level when you’re working with companies and many of them have never done charity campaigns before. So, you can help guide and come across ideas together. Part of that journey with them is also really nice.

Did you get involved with any specific campaigns this year that you really enjoyed?

Oh wow! There are a lot of campaigns that I enjoyed. There was one that wasn’t as recent as this year, but it was last year. We awarded some money to a charity called Something to Look Forward To. We gave them a grant of £46,000 to buy a caravan, which is up on the Norfolk coastline. It allows families that are going through a really tough time with their breast cancer to have a free holiday. It’s an eight-birth caravan and for 48 weeks of the year, this charity is able to let families have it for free for a week’s holiday, which is fantastic. Some of the reactions, the stories and the testimonials that we get from families are amazing. It allows them to get away from treatment, away from all the day-to-day stuff, which isn’t particularly nice. That’s been wonderful.

I’m about to embark on a really great campaign with a fantastic photographer called Caroline, who’s based in the Netherlands. It’s a campaign where we are going to be photographing women who have lost their hair because of cancer treatment and so they’re bald or they have very closely cut, cropped hair. It’s showing them that they still are beautiful, even though they’ve lost a big part of their appearance, which is devastating for a lot of them. But it’s showing them how beautiful they still look. And that’s a gorgeous campaign to work on.

We love your hair, by the way! You definitely fit the Pink Ribbon theme. So what inspired you? Was it the Pink Ribbon Foundation?

Thanks. Yeah, it was whilst I was working with the charity. I’ve had my hair various colours, but naturally, I’m blonde, although probably not as blonde as I was when I was younger! It was very early on when the charity had recently started, we were organizing a yearly event for Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October and I just changed my hair colour from blonde to pink. It was just for one night and then I went back to blonde. I didn’t think anything else of it. And then the event happened again the following year and I thought, oh I’ll dye it pink again! 

It was amazing how many people remembered me or the hair from the year before. I was like, this is super cool because it can be a talking point. It means that you can make a lasting impression on somebody because it’s very distinctive. When you’re meeting people for the first time, you know in a coffee shop that’s busy, just look out for the pink hair!

No one ever loses me anywhere because they just look over the crowds and then find the pink hair somewhere. It’s a trademark! My personal Instagram account @‌PinkLadyTravels is inspired by this. A lot of people call me Pinkie or Pink Lady, but it’s great. I was in a grocery shop a couple of weeks ago and a lady stopped me to talk about my hair and from that conversation, we started talking about the charity. So it’s really good for raising awareness and it’s a conversation starter. I think I’m stuck with this for a little longer! Probably until I turn 80!

Actually, there’s a really cool lady on Instagram who’s just celebrated her 102nd birthday called Iris Apfel. Super cool, very high-fashion. She wears all these very loud, flamboyant clothes and she’s got a very distinctive look. So she’s my aspiration for when I’m 102! I’ll still have pink hair!

I noticed from my research, that only 47% of women in the UK check regularly for breast cancer. So what kind of advice would you give to these people?

The results were from a recent survey by YouGov that was commissioned by Breast Cancer Now. There are 55,000 women a year being diagnosed with breast cancer and around 370 men, which is about 1% of breast cancer cases. It’s scary to think that, now, in this day and age and of course, with the awareness month of October having continued for many, many years. Also, with the amount of charities that are in the UK, we’ve got 300 breast cancer charities on our own database. It’s crazy to think that women and men are still not checking themselves regularly and one of the things that came up in that survey was that people forget. They also worry in case they’re not checking correctly.

We at Pink Ribbon Foundation are not medical experts but it’s so important for you to regularly check yourself. Men don’t think they get breast cancer because they don’t have boobs, but it’s all to do with the chest tissue so anybody can get breast cancer regardless of how you identify yourself. It’s simple, you can do it in the shower and you can do it standing in front of the mirror or you can do it lying on your bed. But if you don’t feel and check yourself regularly and know what is normal for you, then you won’t know when something appears or looks different from how it was previously. So you won’t be able to identify anything.

The biggest thing is getting into a regular habit every month and checking yourself. If you forget and it’s not on the same day every month, that’s fine. The important thing is that you are checking and that if you do find something that wasn’t there the month before, be it a lump or strange skin texture or any kind of leaking from the nipple, anything like that, go and see your GP straight away. We know for a fact that the earlier you present with symptoms, the better your chances are and also the better your treatment plans as well.

So, it’s a case of not being scared and not thinking that you’re wasting anyone’s time if you go and see a GP. Just make sure that you know what is normal for you, what your body looks like and how it should look. It’s better to have the news that it’s nothing than to leave it for months and then present with breast cancer that is stage three or stage four when the chances of surviving are obviously greatly reduced. But as I say, it’s just a case of making sure you check every month, checking under your armpits, up to your collarbone and making sure that you do it often enough that if there is a difference, you can find out what that problem might be.

Would you give the same recommendation to men as well? Do they need to make the same checks?

Totally. Yeah, men traditionally are not great with their health. For instance, testicular cancer has got a really great cure rate if it’s caught early. But men just shy away from anything to do with health and bodies.

It’s different for women because we’re so used to growing up talking about our health. We have periods, we have menopause, we have smear tests and we have babies. All of these things mean that our bodies get looked at by other people all the time and so we’re not shy about it or we shouldn’t be. Also as women, we generally talk to each other about everything anyway.

Men, meanwhile, have always been told, “man up”, “don’t cry”, “stiff upper lip” or “get on with it”. But men definitely should be checking all of their body parts for exactly the same reasons.

Obviously, we know that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. So it’s probably a good time to raise funds, but obviously, it’s still important throughout the rest of the year. How can people get involved and raise money?

You’re right. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and it’s a very important month for us. There’s always a bit of a spike when it comes to the raising of awareness and funds which is great.

One of the good things about our partnership with Glasses Direct is the fact that it’s ongoing. Like you say, people don’t just get breast cancer in October. We need to raise awareness and money all year long. There are plenty of things that people can do, whether they just go onto our website to make a donation, either a one-off donation or a donation that they set up monthly, that’s good.

We’ve got a shop online where you can buy things like our crystal brooches, but also other products. So, you know, shampoos and eye masks and things that also make a donation to our charity. We have lots of people in October raising money through doing events at work, whether that’s wearing pink, having a raffle, or selling cakes. Bake sales are really good in workplaces. Everyone gets very competitive. Everyone thinks they are a master baker!

There are a lot of ideas on how people can get involved on our website and through our social media channels as well.

I noticed a few years ago you did a charity skydive. What was that like? And would you encourage other people to do it or do you have to be a bit more of a daredevil?

The thing is, I’m not really a daredevil. I did the skydive for the Pink Ribbon Foundation back in 2019 and it was the third attempt because the two previous attempts I was ill with a chest infection so I couldn’t jump. Then the weather was really rubbish so I couldn’t jump the second time. So it took three attempts to actually do it. I don’t like heights. I’m not particularly keen on flying anymore. I think as I’ve got older, I’ve become more aware of my mortality, so anything that puts me in someone else’s hands, I’m not that keen on.

I thought I’d be really scared, but I had a team that I brought with me that was also jumping for the charity and I think because I was leading it, I felt like I couldn’t let any fear show even to the point when we got in the plane, which is a very small plane. We then went straight up in the air. It took longer incidentally, to get to 13,000 feet than it did to actually fall. It takes about 42 seconds when you actually come out of the plane! Yeah, it’s fast. You’re going around 100 miles an hour, but again, you don’t feel it. Even when my legs were literally hanging from the edge of the airplane door, I still felt almost like I wasn’t there. It was like I was watching it happen to someone else!

It was an amazing experience. It’s one that I don’t feel that I need to repeat, if I’m honest, because I’ve done it once. But I would definitely tell everybody to do it. Even if you’re scared of heights, it’s so much fun. The company that we use, Skyline, they are brilliant at organizing these things and you can do it as a team day. You get a great video when you’re coming down. You pay extra for it obviously, but you get filmed the whole way down. I remember when I landed, the guy said to me, “So do you want to do that again?” And I was like, “Nope!” But everyone runs marathons, I say, do something different! Do a charity skydive!

I’ve noticed today you’re wearing glasses from our Pink Ribbon Collection. So which glasses do you have on today?

I do, yes. These are Primrose in Havana. I love them. I’ve also got the Peony ones in clear plastic as well, which is nice. I really like them because again, they’re clear and they show a lot more of your face. The glasses are fantastic! I know that the Pink Ribbon collection has been really popular and they come in a variety of fantastic styles, great colourways and the price point is amazing. You make a donation to the charity as well. Win-win!

I’m also looking forward to your new collection as well, which will be coming out soon, I hear.

Yes, lots to look forward to! So, Lisa, what do you like most about our Pink Ribbon range? Do you think it’s a good way to raise money?

I think any kind of company that does cause-related marketing, where they are using the charity name and logos to market and sell a product, is great. There are some people who think it’s it is not a good idea, but I think it’s fine as long as the relationship is genuine, there’s a product that people want to buy and the charity also benefits.

I always think of it as a pyramid. So if the charity is getting awareness and getting money and the company is selling a product and looking good to its consumers and also its colleagues and employees, that’s fabulous. Then obviously you’ve got the consumer that’s buying the product as well, so they know that money goes to charity. I think if all those three things are in place equally and it’s not weighted in the favour of the company or the charity, they’re the partnerships that I’ve found personally have the most longevity and are the most respected.

I’ve worked with lots of different companies and 90% of the brands that we work with at Pink Ribbon Foundation have actually had partnerships with us for many years. It’s all about building on the desire of the company to want to make a difference and what we as a charity can lend to that partnership as well. I think more companies should be doing charity partnerships, whether it’s breast cancer, children, dogs, or whatever. I think people nowadays in the world that we live in, expect companies to make a difference within their community. So definitely, I’m all about hearing from brands that want to get involved.

We at Glasses Direct have raised over £7,000 through the sales of our Pink Ribbon range. What kind of a difference can that sort of funding make and what does it contribute towards?

It makes a huge difference because again, as a charity, we’ve got very little infrastructure. There are no offices. We don’t have loads of staff. This means that more of the money that is raised for us goes to the good causes that we support. For the majority of the grants that we award, we’re giving to small charities. These are charities on the frontline that support women and men going through breast cancer. It contributes to things like wig advice, counselling, alternative therapies and holidays. It means there’s very little wastage in the money that we get given because as I said, we don’t have a lot of costs at the Pink Ribbon Foundation.

We’ve got a very strict grant process that the trustees are looking at. If a charity is successful with their grant, they also have to give us two reports in the 12 months to let us know how that money’s been used, how many people have benefited and so on. Any charity that fails to do that is not allowed to apply for another grant.

It means that when we grant that money out, we get very good stories coming back to us of how that money’s been used and what difference it’s made. So definitely, I think, with the cost of living crises and with people being very careful where they put their money and which charities they donate to, it’s very important for people to realise that we are not a charity that spends a lot of money on chief executives and plush offices and things like that. The money raised, whether it’s £5 or £50,000, it all makes a huge difference.

There is lots of excitement around the big event of the year PINKLondon. Can you tell us a little more about that? Is there anything you can reveal?

Oh yes, I can reveal some things! So PINKLondon is an annual event we hold every October to launch Breast Cancer Awareness Month. We’ve been working now with a really fabulous body painter, called Filippo ioco, ever since we started these events in conjunction with him back in 2014. In fact, we would be celebrating our 10th one if COVID hadn’t happened and stopped it.

So this is our 9th year with PINKLondon. This year it’s underneath the Shakespeare’s Globe. It’s an iconic venue right on the banks of the River Thames overlooking St Paul’s. The theme is A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare. So I’ve seen the aesthetics. It’s gorgeous. There’s a tree in the middle of the venue. There are fairy lights and flowers. No one has to dress up like Puck, so you’re fine!

Then we’ve got some fabulous singers. We’ve got Raquel Reno, Jamie Hannah and Broadway-West End star, Kerry Ellis performing for us. Angie Greaves from Smooth Radio will be the host. We’ve got Linzi Stoppard who is an amazing electronic violinist who plays on a Swarovski crystal violin, which is worth a million pounds. So the light beams off of that! Then, we’ve got DJs for the after-party, Jemma Bolt and Laura Pradelska. There will be a raffle, auction, award-winning food and goodie bags for everyone to take home. We will also throw a few extra surprises in for good measure!

We are very lucky, a lot of our corporate partners have booked tickets and booked tables and I’ve deliberately kept the prices low because obviously, I want people to be able to come and support us. There are still tickets available! Feel free to check that out. It’s a great night where we can celebrate 23 years of the Pink Ribbon Foundation and toast all the good work that the charities that we work with have done. People can have a good drink, a dance and just really celebrate each other!

Thanks for coming today, Lisa. Is there anything else you’d like to comment on?

You’re very welcome. You know, I think again, it’s a valuable partnership. Any partnership that we have with a brand that sees the value of working with a charity and specifically with the Pink Ribbon Foundation, we value all of those people and the partnerships. Long may it continue, I say!

Discover our Pink Ribbon frames

Our Pink Ribbon frames come in a range of trendy shapes and designs. Each frame has a flower name and showcases the Pink Ribbon logo. For every sale, we’ll donate £2 to the Pink Ribbon Foundation. The Pink Ribbon frames have raised £7,376 so far which has supported the crucial work of this charitable campaign.

Join the fight to beat breast cancer this Pink October and beyond. Purchase Glasses Direct’s stylish Pink Ribbon collection, raise funds or donate to the foundation directly.