Alice Crisci received an unwanted phone call a few months ago: Her doctor told her she had an aggressive form of breast cancer.
The 31-year-old business consultant decided to set up a non-profit foundation to support those with breast cancer. Thanks to her business skills, her foundation, called My Vision, was launched only three weeks after she got the diagnosis.
“As a consultant, I applied everything I write about, speak about and implement in companies to launch this foundation,” she said. “I build companies for a living, so this was a no brainer and a way to cope with my disease.”
The Redondo Beach woman said starting a non-profit is similar to starting any business. First, she said, she called her lawyer to set up the non-profit. Then she created a template for a Web site. She began networking. That way, she was able to organize a team of volunteers to help set up her first benefit. Along the way, she wrote a book about her experience with the disease.
Crisci expects to generate revenue for the foundation through a number of channels. So far, a few for-profit businesses are pledging contributions including New York-based WELLalarm, a manufacturer of jewelry that doubles as medical alert information. It has pledged to the foundation 100 percent of the proceeds from the sale of an existing heart-shaped pendant, and it plans to create a custom piece for the foundation. The largest pledge so far was $50,000 from Century City-based Endeavor Ventures Inc., an investment company.
Additional money will come from merchandise available on the foundation’s Web site including Crisci’s self-published book, a breast self-exam kit, and a beaded pink handbag by Northern Virginia based KuraDesigns.
The foundation’s first fund raising event in April brought in just under $25,000, and featured a silent auction, dinner and dancing at Shade Hotel in Manhattan Beach.
One of the chief purposes of the foundation is to provide “fertility preservation” for women. That way, women can preserve their eggs for later; women often emerge from their ordeal infertile. The preservation process is expensive and is not covered by insurance.
“I called American Express to have them up my limit” for the procedure, Crisci said.
She honed her business skills as chief executive and founder of the consulting company Beeline Global Inc. As such, she helps businesses with all manner of issues. Her clients have included small start-ups to larger companies, such as Culver City-based DualStar Entertainment Group, headed by Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen.
She also does some executive coaching, and she is a guest lecturer on entrepreneurship for UCLA Extension.
Crisci has undergone surgery and last week took the first of four courses of chemotherapy.