Sparkle & Celebrate PINK was created in 2017 by a group of artists who wanted to create a day of beauty and celebration for breast cancer survivors.  Last year, Jenn Hyman, Katie Cotton, Staci Gibbs, and Jade Couch provided professional makeup, hair, body paint, lunch, wine and a photo shoot to 5 ladies in the Upstate SC.  Click here to see the celebration!

This year we held the event at Mirrored Images Boudoir studio in Gainesville GA, just north of Atlanta Georgia.  We had 7 beautiful survivors participate and even more talented artists volunteer their time and talent to the cause.

BreastCancer.org reports

• about 1 in 8 US women will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of her lifetime
• in 2018 an estimated 266,120 new cases of invasive breast cancer are expected to be diagnosed in US women, along with 63,960 cases of non-invasive breast cancer
• about 40,920 women in the US are expected to die in 2018 from breast cancer
• as of January 2019, there are more than 3.1 million women with a history of breast cancer in the US
• bout 85% of breast cancers occur in women who have no family history of breast cancer

Those statistics are SCARY!  Imagine yourself in the shoes of a woman who was just diagnosed… not only will your body go through big changes, but emotionally you’re left to cope with this diagnosis while (usually) being rushed into a treatment plan to save your life.  Depression and anxiety impact relationships and intimacy and 50% of relationships end after there’s a cancer diagnosis.  We, as women, need to stand together and support each other.  You ARE beautiful, you ARE strong, you CAN embrace the changes your mind and body have been through.

As boudoir photographers, Katie and I help women to accept and love who they are.  Every woman is capable of this, sometimes it just takes a super annoying boudoir photographer telling you over and over again how beautiful you are 🙂

We are so grateful for these inspirational women to allow us to document this time in their life and provide them with a beautiful reminder of how amazing they are.  Here are two reviews from 2017 participants:

“You’ve helped me begin to find myself again.  I’m getting more comfortable with how my body has changed and I am learning to embrace it…scars and all.  I really thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

“My husband’s reaction to the Sparkle & Celebrate pictures was the best feeling in the world!!!!  He is so proud, he wants to share with everybody!  I know I am not a model, but after 10 years of hiding….I finally feel whole again.  I can never thank you enough – not only for what you did for me on the outside that day, but what you did for me on the inside for a lifetime!  Thank you!”