Women to Watch: Rubin Fortunato Celebrates Inspiring Women Leaders — Sue Weldon
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March 17, 2025
During Women’s History Month, Rubin Fortunato celebrates contemporary women leaders who are making a positive difference in our world. Today, Rubin Fortunato highlights Sue Weldon, founder and Chief Executive Officer of Unite for HER (Help Empower and Restore), a local organization ensuring that people facing breast and ovarian cancer feel supported and gain access to comprehensive education, services, and tools that enrich their health and well-being.
Sue Weldon speaks with passion about what has become her life’s work. Diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004, Sue began searching for integrative therapies that would complement the conventional medical treatment she was receiving. She found that she could control the side effects and symptoms of chemotherapy through integrative therapies, including nutrition, acupuncture, massage, and yoga. Shortly after finishing her own treatment, Sue felt the urge to share the tools, information, and resources that she had gathered with a young cancer patient in Philadelphia, who tearfully told Sue that she could never afford the extra care. That night, Sue told her husband that she wanted to start a nonprofit. “My skill set was set up for this,” says Sue. “As a gymnastics coach, I could build a team. I was in sales, so building relationships was an asset. And, I went through cancer treatment, with a strong passion to see a better path.”
In 2009, Sue founded Unite for HER to Help Empower and Restore others diagnosed with breast cancer in the Philadelphia region, and the organization has since grown to provide a variety of services, support, and education to those affected by breast and ovarian cancers nationwide. This year, with its 22 employees, 100 recruiting partners, 400 volunteers, and a national reach, Unite for HER will serve 8,000 patients who are newly diagnosed or living with metastatic breast or ovarian cancer.
Growing at a rate of 20% each year, Unite for HER’s programming and offerings are as impressive as the numbers: care boxes with $200 worth of products – including a cookbook, organic skin products, tea, and more – are hand-packaged and mailed to the doorsteps of patients across the country to help them manage treatment side effects and symptoms; live virtual cooking classes, guided meditations, yoga sessions, and expert presentations are available by Zoom and FaceBook; and Unite for HER’s signature “Passport Program” allows members to create a personal plan for incorporating $2,000 worth of integrative therapies (like reiki, meditation, meal and fresh vegetable deliveries, counseling, and therapy) into their treatment – at no personal cost to the patient.
“We have something special here,” says Sue, whose goal prioritizes getting that $2,000 worth of services out to the underserved as well as the Black and Latina communities where women are 41% more likely to die of breast cancer as compared to white women.
Sue leads her staff to thrive and make a meaningful impact in the breast and ovarian cancer community. She is dedicated to ensuring Unite for HER’s impact is centered in authenticity, inclusivity, and accessibility and has fostered a culture of empathy, trust, and innovation at the organization. Sue also serves as a patient advocate adviser to the American Cancer Society, Lilly, AstraZeneca, Deloitte, Metastatic Breast Cancer Alliance, Pfizer, Novartis, and AbbVie. Recognized for her outstanding leadership and commitment to the breast and ovarian cancer community, Sue has received many awards, including AstraZeneca’s Catalyst for Care Award and West Chester University’s Distinguished Alumni Award.
We commend Sue for her leadership and for the many ways she and Unite for HER support so many individuals through their search for wellness.
Click here for more information about Unite for HER, including ways to get involved.
