Despite losing both her mother and sister to metastatic breast cancer, LaTonya Davis wasn’t prepared to receive a triple-negative breast cancer diagnosis just 6 months after her sister’s passing.
“I was shocked,” LaTonya said, recounting how after her doctor saw something suspicious during a routine mammogram, he suggested she have a biopsy right away. Receiving confirmation that it was, in fact, cancer just a few days before Thanksgiving in 2016 made it that much more devastating and difficult to process.
Her first thought was how she would find the words to tell her nephew, Jayden what was going on. LaTonya had become Jayden’s sole guardian after her sister lost her battle with cancer, as Jayden’s dad had also passed away a few years before his mom’s death.
With the holiday season in full swing and the weight of Jayden having suffered so much loss on her shoulders, LaTonya decided to keep the news of her diagnosis to herself until after the new year. “Jayden had already been through so much, I really struggled to tell him.” 
Once the news was out and the fight of her life was underway, there was no turning back. Since her diagnosis three years ago, LaTonya has undergone various surgeries (including a double mastectomy) as well as a series of chemotherapy treatments.
Throughout her journey, LaTonya has immersed herself in the breast cancer community and become an advocate for survivors like herself. In fact, it was her deep-rooted connection to the community at large that inspired her next evolution as a podcaster.
Prior to her sister’s death, LaTonya worked as a brand strategist for a company that represents some of the top international spirits brands. A successful career in marketing made the concept of building a platform to bring awareness to the growing community of cancer survivors-turned-entrepreneurs and the products they’re creating to change the world a no-brainer.
LaTonya explained, “the more survivors I met, the more I realized there was a whole community of women doing amazing things after cancer.” That’s when the idea to create a podcast like How I Built This but for cancer survivors came to her. As a podcast fan herself, LaTonya realized that hosting her own podcast would be the perfect platform to show other survivors that anything is possible after cancer.
Her hope is that through this new endeavor, she can inspire those women who are newly diagnosed to persevere and pursue their dreams.
