On Saturday Nov.7, 2026 breast cancer advocates, patients and caregivers packed the ballroom at the Shay Hotel for the Tigerlily Foundation Bliss Collective, for an event designed to ease difficult conversations surrounding breast cancer.
For Tigerlily Founder and CEO Maimah Karmo, creating spaces like this has been a lifelong calling. Following her own young breast cancer diagnosis in 2006, Karmo launched the foundation to empower particularly Black women and women of color with health equity programs.
The afternoon began with Karmo leading a guided meditation activation. In the room lights dimmed, her pillow-soft voice invited attendees to picture a warm light bulb resting over their hearts, wrapping the room in a calm so soothing that Karmo jokingly admitted she had nearly put everyone to sleep.
Then, that stillness gave way to the panel discussion. The four distinguished panelists, Director of SPARK Clinical Trials Center of Excellence Rachana Kenvinde, co-founder of BrightHer Grant Adrienne Chenault, founder of Th3 Pink Haus Carlin Hafiz, and founder of WOS Therapy Tamika Lewis; spoke about the hard realities of diagnosis.
They addressed topics such as building a caregiving circle, rearranging daily life during treatment, and dealing with the painful strain diagnosis can put on marriages and relationships.
For Karmo, the work goes beyond emotional support. When she received an aggressive breast cancer diagnosis, doctors told her there were no effective treatment paths available for her body.
“I found out that because they hadn’t included Black women in clinical trials, there wasn’t a medication designed for my body,” Karmo shared.
That gap led her to build the Tigerlily Foundation which recruits Black women into clinical trial networks, connecting patients with clinical trial leaders like Kenvinde to end disparities spanning age and racial background.
Her advocacy extends to the halls of government. Karmo helped spark historic change through the landmark Breast Cancer Education and Awareness Requires Learning Young (EARLY) Act, which passed Congress in 2010 to fund targeted breast health education and research for young, high-risk women.
Clara Carvalho
