What if changing the way you see yourself could change the way you move through one of the hardest seasons of your life? In this episode of Leading Visionaries, host Anjel B. Hartwell sits down with Amanda Goodwin, founder of Cancer Sharks, a storytelling and advocacy platform inspired by her experience with stage four melanoma. A longtime communications and leadership professional, Amanda has led nonprofit initiatives, fundraising campaigns, childcare organizations, and a technology startup.

Amanda shares how Cancer Sharks is evolving through storytelling events, merchandise, publishing, and speaking, while staying rooted in its larger purpose: creating connection when people need it most.

This conversation is about far more than cancer. It is about trusting your knowing, advocating for yourself, and having the courage to let a vision grow before you know exactly where it will lead.

What You Will Learn:

How self-leadership can become a powerful form of advocacy when navigating difficult circumstances.

Why advocating for yourself sometimes requires researching decision-makers and understanding what matters to them.

How years of leadership experience can become unexpectedly valuable during a personal crisis.

Why vision isn't always visual and can instead emerge through intuition, awareness, feeling, or a deep sense of knowing.

Why changing the language we use around difficult experiences can change how we relate to them.

How storytelling can create connection and vulnerability in places where people often feel isolated.

Why a vision does not have to be perfectly formed before you begin bringing it into the world.

How Amanda is building Cancer Sharks through storytelling, events, publishing, merchandise, and speaking.

Why entrepreneurs and visionaries need to be willing to experiment, learn, and allow their original vision to evolve.

How the words used by leaders, healthcare professionals, and caregivers can profoundly affect people during critical moments.

Why no one should have to swim alone when navigating a difficult season.

FAQ:

What is Cancer Sharks?

Cancer Sharks is a storytelling and advocacy platform founded by Amanda Goodwin following her experience with stage four melanoma. The platform uses storytelling, community, merchandise, events, and speaking to create a more empowering way for people to connect around cancer.

How can storytelling help people going through difficult experiences?

Storytelling can help people feel less isolated by creating opportunities for shared vulnerability and connection. Amanda found that sharing Cancer Sharks stickers and cards in medical settings often encouraged people to open up and share their own stories.

Why is the language used during critical care important?

Words can significantly affect how people experience vulnerable and frightening situations. Amanda's keynote, The Weight of Words in Critical Care, explores how communication can either increase fear or provide reassurance, connection, and empowerment.

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LVP 149 Amanda

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Now, here's your host, Anjel B. Hartwell

Anjel: Welcome to another episode of the Leading Visionaries podcast, where we celebrate the ingenious, insightful, innovative, and inspired leading visionaries of our time, and provide our listeners with world-class examples of the kind of courage, clarity, and confidence it takes to bring visions into reality.

And I have to tell our audience that I have known Amanda now for, I believe it's 13 years. Yeah ... and we, we have a lovely connection with one another, not the least of which is that I was also a NICU mom, and that was part of our initial bonding. And so it's just such a pleasure and a delight to bring you here onto the show today.

Welcome, Amanda.

Mm-hmm ... but definitely very excited to be here to talk about Cancer Sharks and to talk about the vision of wellness that has been really helping me get through what has been the most difficult season of my life. Mm. Yeah. Well, I usually like to talk about vision or leadership, and at the, at the beginning here.

Amanda: So it was definitely long before my diagnosis. W- what's interesting is I would say Up until recently, I would never had said that I had visions prior to this season in my life. But now being in this season and understanding what I know now, I can look back through the rest of my life and truly see that I have been having visions since I was a child on all ends of the spectrum.

Ad: Mm-hmm.

Amanda: So, and then that, I think through the bulk of my life I lost touch with that piece of myself. Mm-hmm. And I would only credit kind of being visionary with having a proven system, mostly at work, that proved I was very good at what I did.

Anjel: Mm-hmm.

Amanda: And now I just don't believe that's what visions are only about.

Anjel: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Well, so one of the things that you said there was having awareness, and, and what I want our listeners who are leading visionaries with var- in varying stages of innovation and insight and geniusness all around the world, what I want, I want our listeners to hear is that vision isn't always visual.

And unfortunately as a result of that suppression, repression, and depression, sometimes life throws the curveball that says, "Hello. We would like you to listen to your feelings and pay attention."

Amanda: Your feelings and your body, and those things are all connected.

Anjel: Yeah. Exactly, exactly. So let's talk about let's talk about how you got the curveball.

Anjel: Mm. Yeah. Well, and you know, what I want our listeners to hear is six and a half weeks is actually pretty swift.

Amanda: Yes.

Anjel: And the advocacy piece is being able to be a self-advocate is huge here. So let's talk about leadership because I've... For, for as long as I've known you, I've known you as a leader, and leadership in this case was self-leadership, self-advocacy.

Amanda: I got there because prior to that, I helped run 40 childcare centers in New England during the height of COVID, which was, you know, slightly chaotic to put it mildly. And then prior to that, I had run the nonprofit side of Life is Good Kids Foundation Playmaker Project, uh, which is a trauma-informed care group based out of Boston.

You know, I thought I was on a good flow when this stopped me dead in the water. Luckily not too dead. And so what had actually happened is that when I had mentioned that disconnect with my primary care and not feeling like I was getting All of the scans and attention and time that I needed to really understand what was going on with my body, that I knew something deeper was going on with my body.

Take all your leadership skills and get to the other side of this." And that was really what clicked for me. Mm-hmm. So it was from there that I was, you know, if I was in a, a, a job, what would I do? I'd, I'd find the decision-maker, right? So I did my research and I found the head of medical oncology at the hospital I was being treated at.

I then went deep into his research to figure out what interested him, and then I found the pieces in my symptoms that I thought would stand out to him and wrote a very compelling call to action email. After that, that's what triggered getting the best care and attention on my case.

Anjel: Mm. Beautiful. Well, so for our listeners, obviously, hopefully most of you are not dealing with stage four melanoma, but I want- Yes, hopefully

Like, these are very simple sometimes not seen in the mind of the founder or the innovator. We don't always see how to get to the money, how to get to the decision-makers, because we're so focused on what we're trying to create in the world that we sometimes forget that we need to have team on board and support on board.

So I wanna talk now a little bit about how you got the vision, like, in the midst of stage four melanoma. All of a sudden you have now decided to start to found Cancer Sharks. So I'd love to hear a little bit about the vision for that.

Again, I did not know I was sick, and if you saw me out and walking around today, you would never guess that I'm carrying the diagnosis. And the same was true then. I did not look sickly. I was not losing weight. I had full head of hair. Everything w- w- looked to be fine. So when I made those calls, those were pretty emotional calls because that was not a call, including you, anyone was expecting me to make.

But I really liked that visualization. I really liked the idea of, it's called a shiver. I've learned a, a group of sharks is a shiver. But imagining a shiver of sharks rushing through me and just eating the melanoma away. And then as I sat with that visualization, I really got to thinking like Sharks are scary, right?

I mean, we can, we can go back and forth about there's all kinds of sharks, and some of them aren't. But, like, I think a lot of people think of, like, Jaws, like the do, do, do, do, do, do when you say sharks. And so I thought, "Wouldn't it be more empowering to think of myself as a cancer shark, not a cancer patient," 'cause I have no patience for this disease, because that would make me more scary than scared-

Anjel: Mm

Anjel: Mm-hmm ...

Amanda: because then I, I would, I would be more scary. I would be scarier than this disease, and I would be more scary than scared.

Anjel: Mm.

Amanda: You know?

Anjel: Beautiful. We're gonna take a- And not many of them- We're gonna take a quick break on that.

Oh,

Amanda: okay.

Anjel: Sure. That you will be more scary than scared. Right now we're gonna take a quick break, though. Listeners, are you a leading visionary or in the role of leading other visionaries? If you're interested in finding out more about how you can receive support for getting your vision out of the air and onto the ground in a way that's both impact and income producing, the best support is found in collaboration with other leading visionaries, which is why we've created the Creative Age Leader Lab.

I wanna say a big thank you to all of our listeners who are downloading, rating, and reviewing. We're welcoming thousands and thousands of downloads from all over the world. Shout out this week to our listeners in Boston, Brazil, Bangladesh, and Belgium. We'll just do all the Bs today, and we will be right back with Amanda Goodwin

Ad: The Leading Visionaries podcast is brought to you by the Creative Age Consulting Group. Are you the one who thinks differently? Who is called to create a significant conscious change in the world? Who is seeing and dreaming of a better way for your industry, your community, humanity? Creative Age Consulting Group is hired to guide leading visionaries just like you, who want to break through the static in order to clearly express and confidently enroll support for their vision in a way that makes it inevitable that it will come to pass.

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Now, so many people, Amanda, could have taken that visualization and just applied it to their own life. What makes you, you? What makes you, you? Right? And thank you for you know, sharing that I supported you through that initial-

Amanda: It's

Anjel: been me- ... news ...

Amanda: and the vision.

Anjel: Mm-hmm. But let me, let me be clear. You, you know, you could have just stopped doing everything and sat back and just allowed yourself to be the only cancer shark.

Amanda: I think ribbons are pretty, and I think cancer is the opposite of that. I feel like ribbons are pretty and polite, and I would rather be scary and badass. So what I did is I had this vision of, what if I made a sequined shark? And it had to be sequined, because also it's just, as you can... I mean, I have a multicolored mic.

You've got to be bright and bold. So of course, it had to be a she- sequined shark, but I wanted it to have blood coming out of its mouth with big chompers, you know, just crushing the word cancer. Mm-hmm. And what changes is the, you know, the, the color of the shark. So I'm a melanoma cancer shark. A yellow would be a pediatric cancer shark.

That includes the nurses that do the infusion, the doctors that save my life. It's, it's everyone. And once you stop... I, I noticed once I stopped making those waiting rooms for MRIs and scans and, you know, infusions less scary and more communicative and handing out these silly little stickers, people immediately opened up and shared what was going on with them.

Mm. And suddenly that waiting room became a connecting room, and I think there's medicine in that too.

Anjel: Mm. Yeah. Well, you know, in addition to the merchandise, you're a storyteller. I mean, you- I am ... really are a storyteller. You've always been a storyteller at heart. You are... have, have been on the Moth stage. I am.

You want to, to open people up in a place of shared vulnerability to be able to come into some kind of community when they're in a horrible place in their life, and that's, you know, of course, incredibly laudable. But let's talk about making money, you know? Sure. You're a m- you, you have also been a money maker for, for all of your life.

Amanda: Yeah, so I've started an annual Moth-like storytelling event, which happens every fall here in, um...

So far that's been in Massachusetts, and I think that's where the second one will be as well. Definitely New England. And so that raises, you know, around $5,000, which is an event of between 100 and 200 people, set ticket price, great food. And then because I've connected in the storytelling community as well, a really impressive lineup of local New England storytellers that just, you know, crush on whatever theme we give.

It's a good place to start. And, you know, your question about in the beginning- I think the only thing that stops any of us is ourselves, right? Like, I had to publish before I had any subscribers. I had to, you know, book the hall for the event before anyone bought a ticket. I had to... There are these risks that you have to take, and also have to accept that if it's not exactly the way you envisioned it the first time, it's just part of the vision.

It's like, well, no, I'm staying rooted in story. So we're gonna do that. I publish weekly. I have the offers out there. I'm happy to send, you know, I'm happy to, to make product available to anyone who wants it. So you can- Mm-hmm ... you know, get to me at [email protected]. Visit cancersharks.com and all of the information is there.

But I think it's more, I mean, you said the word vulnerable before, and it's more about being vulnerable and knowing you're gonna have to learn on this vision too. Mm-hmm. Just because, like, you have the vision, and I know Cancer Sharks is my thing. Mm-hmm.

And it was funny because, like, right after I, I went to New Orleans and I had a big cancer shark headdress made for me by my best friend, and it was the Easter parade.

Anjel: Mm-hmm. Or deep oceans, and you have the ability- Or deep oceans ... to swim in them. Yeah,

Amanda: you have to swim.

Anjel: Right on. You get to swim, and no one should swim alone. Well, we've got about two minutes left, Amanda, so in the last two minutes, I think what I would like to do is I would like to see your vision, and I would like to raise your vision.

And I am curious, because you have, you know, such a great background in storytelling, whether or not there might be people who are out there listening who could hire you to come in and be doing a storytelling you know, presentation on their stages to inspire.

Imagine that. So, that is also something that I do, have done, and continue to do. So whether that's consulting with executives on preparing their own stories on how to captivate their team, or you're having some kind of conference or get-together, I have a keynote called The Weight of Words in Critical Care, and it doesn't mat- Critical care is any time you critically care about anything.

So that can be about your, you know, your timeline at work, whatever that work is. And it just goes through the difference of things. You know, we both shared being a NICU mom. Mm-hmm. And a quick example is I had one doctor tell me, "We're not too overly concerned about the survival of your son." Which did not land well with a mother who was about to deliver a two-pound baby.

Mm. And so I, I talk about the weight of words in all critical care. Anything you care about, you can position it differently to have the real passion, emotion, and story come through, or you can try to force people into doing what you want.

Anjel: Mm. Beautiful. I love it. Well, thank you so much for bringing Cancer Sharks to our show today, as well as your wisdom and your grace and your strength and your perseverance and your authenticity and, and, and, and, and- I think I might-

all the love that you have.

Amanda: I think I should probably tell people, too, so it's been a year and a half into this.

Anjel: Mm-hmm.

Anjel: Oh, let me ring the bell for that.

Yay. We are celebrating that, Amanda. And well done, Sharks. All right, listeners, th- we do love feedback. Please let us know what you thought of today's show by joining our community, sharing your takeaways, asking questions, or submitting guest suggestions. You can weave your visionary thread into our fabric by opting in on our website at leadingvisionariespodcast.com or by interacting with us on social.

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