For Emmy-nominated journalist and Inside Edition correspondent Alison Hall, storytelling has always been about connection and the possibility of making a difference.
This October, The Pink Agenda is proud to honor Alison with the Pink Agenda Icon Award at our Annual New York Gala, recognizing her commitment to using her voice and platform to advance breast cancer awareness, advocacy and research.
It is an honor that carries particular meaning for Alison because her connection to the cause began long before her own breast cancer diagnosis.
She was 14 when her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. Alison and her three siblings were scared and searching for a way to channel that fear into something positive. They began fundraising for their local cancer facility, Cancer Care Manitoba, hosting a pink party and rallying family and friends around the cause.
Their efforts caught the attention of local media, giving Alison an early glimpse into the impact that sharing a personal experience could have beyond the people directly living it.
“I saw firsthand the power of storytelling,” Alison recalls. “Sharing our story and our fundraising plans in the local newspaper and on local TV stations gave me a front-row seat to understanding how a story can help a movement.”
Along the way, Alison met the journalists covering their efforts and found herself inspired by them. Not long after, her mother suggested journalism as a possible career path.
“It felt like fate,” Alison says.
The family’s fundraising efforts ultimately grew into The Challenge for Life, which continues today and has raised more than $18 million for cancer research. For Alison, the experience also set her on a path toward a career centered on connecting with people and using journalism to make a difference.
Years later, an assignment would change her own life.
The Assignment That Changed Everything
At 32, Alison reported on Olivia Munn’s breast cancer experience. Given her mother’s history, Alison felt personally connected to the subject, but she didn’t initially believe it would have direct implications for her own health.
During her reporting, surgical oncologist Dr. Sharon Rosenbaum Smith encouraged Alison to assess her own breast cancer risk. The results indicated she was high-risk and should begin a screening schedule.
After her first breast MRI, Alison was called back for biopsies. Just weeks later, she was diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer.
“Within six months of reporting on her story, because of her story, I was diagnosed at an early stage,” Alison says. “Alongside the fear and anxiety of the diagnosis, I was just so grateful.”
For a journalist accustomed to asking the questions, sharing something so personal was daunting. But Alison kept returning to the fact that another woman’s willingness to be open about her experience had prompted her to take action.
“The second thing I thought about after I was diagnosed was that I wanted to share my story,” she says. “I thought about how grateful I was to have heard Olivia’s story and taken action because of it, and I knew I wanted to pass that same gift along.”
Alison publicly shared her diagnosis, double mastectomy and recovery. The response showed her just how far that openness could reach.
Helping Others Feel Less Alone
Hundreds, and eventually thousands, of women reached out to Alison with messages of support and experiences of their own.
One arrived the morning after Alison’s mastectomy. A teacher in Kansas City named Sally had seen Alison on the news and was on her way to the hospital for her own double mastectomy. She told Alison that hearing about her experience had helped her feel less alone.
Alison wrote back, “Hello from the other side — you’ve got this!”
A friendship followed. The two recovered alongside one another virtually, checking in and sharing symptoms, advice and encouragement.
Alison has also heard from women who advocated for screenings after hearing about her diagnosis, were subsequently diagnosed and are now receiving treatment.
Those connections have deepened her belief in what storytelling can accomplish and changed the way she approaches her work.
“Everyone has something, and the ability to share our stories and connect is what gives us meaning and power in powerless situations,” she says. “I feel more connected to the mission of storytelling, connection and advocacy now more than ever.”
Today, Alison is particularly passionate about encouraging younger women to understand their individual breast cancer risk. Before her diagnosis, she too believed she was “too young” to be concerned.
Her message now is clear: pay attention to your breast health, know your risk and advocate for yourself.
“If there’s a woman out there hearing my story, I hope she walks away and does one small, brave thing,” Alison says. “Takes the risk assessment test, books the screening, asks her doctor about her risk, does a self-exam she’s been putting off.”
More than anything, she hopes women who hear about her experience know they are not alone.
A Full-Circle Moment
For Alison, receiving the Pink Agenda Icon Award connects where her journey began to where she finds herself today.
“Turning fear into action, and pain into something that helps someone else,” she says of the connection between the work of The Pink Agenda and BCRF and what her own family set out to do around their kitchen table when she was 14.
“I didn’t set out to become an advocate in this particular way — I set out to tell other people’s stories. But breast cancer had other plans, and now I get to stand in both roles at once: the journalist and the patient, the storyteller and the story.”
From discovering the power of using her voice through her mother’s experience to using her platform today to help women understand their risk, advocate for their health and feel less alone, Alison represents the kind of impact The Pink Agenda Icon Award was created to recognize.
We look forward to celebrating Alison at The Pink Agenda’s Annual New York Gala on Thursday, October 8, at Tribeca Rooftop.
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