So often we are told that the key to resilience, to overcoming obstacles, to moving from surviving to thriving is that we should simply make the best of the situation we are handed and keep moving forward until the hard part is behind us. But what do you do when "powering through" is just that—movement without purpose or learning or healing? In reality, true resilience is about learning how to face your pains, to accept them as a part of who you are, and then to incorporate the struggles into your life in a way that is meaningful to you. It is about not getting over the things that hurt us but finding a way to let them transform us. You can live a big and beautiful life even after experiencing immense sorrow. You don't move on from the hard stuff, you move through it and you learn how to live with life's challenges. While the path through pain is individual to us all, there are common techniques that we can all apply to the situations we face; techniques that allow us to purposefully and thoughtfully embrace the things that challenge us the most and to incorporate them into the balance of our life. So if that means forgetting the lemonade and making a cocktail, going to therapy, climbing a mountain, building a tiny house or just sitting quietly and breathing deeply, we all have the capacity and the power to figure out how to thrive in this miserable, broken, beautiful and meaningful world.

In her bestselling book Grief Is Love: Living with Loss, Marisa Renee Lee looks at grief not as a single event but as a lived experience—defining grief as the repeated experience of learning to live in the midst of a significant loss. A Black woman, she explores the unique impact of grief on identity, the role that race and racism play and our opportunity to heal from loss and trauma. Marisa defines racism as a form of grief for Black Americans and other people of color. Because no matter how much they love, serve or support this country, they don’t always get that love back. In communities of color, grief is a direct result of racism and affects individuals physically, emotionally, psychologically, spiritually and often financially. Of equal importance, systemic racism often has a direct impact on whether someone’s grief is validated and if they have access to the things they need to heal. Whether examining the Black experience in America or considering the recent rise in antisemitism and anti-Asian hate in our country, Marisa pushes us all to ask hard questions, reckon with our privilege and create safe spaces for all of us to heal. Marisa also discusses what effective allyship actually is and how White Americans can combat racism beyond simply posting a black square on Instagram.

Whether you’re a professional, a family member or both, being a caregiver can be profoundly rewarding but extremely exhausting at the same time. Marisa Renee Lee had already become a caregiver at age 13, when her mother suddenly became very sick with an unknown illness that they later learned was Multiple Sclerosis. Marisa spent her high school years helping to care for her mother and pitching in with her younger sister as well. She ignored all of her complicated feelings and emotions about her mother’s illness and focused on the things she could control: her academics. She worked her way into Harvard. But by the end of her freshman year, her sister was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder. During her four years at college, she frequently traveled home to help care for her mom and her sister during her mental health crisis. As she was preparing to graduate college, her mother got sick again, this time with stage IV breast cancer. Marisa postponed her career on Wall Street to move home and help care for her mother. Over the ensuing years, as her mom's health declined, Marisa split her time between a busy job on Wall Street and helping to care for her mom, alongside her dad. Sharing her story, Marisa wants caregivers and families to know they are not alone. Marisa didn’t always cope effectively with her mother’s or sister’s illnesses and she wants to encourage others to honestly examine how they are impacted when caring for others. She seeks to build a world with more compassion and empathy for all of us.

Marisa Renee Lee was preparing to graduate from Harvard when she learned her mother was diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer. As her mom's health continued to decline, she split her time between a new job on Wall Street and helping to care for her mom, alongside her dad. Her mom was 49 years old when she ultimately lost her battle with breast cancer. Coming to terms that she was unable to heal her mother’s breast cancer, Marisa sought a way to make an impact on the disease. Her desire to eradicate cancer and find meaning in her mother’s battle with cancer became her driving force, as well as a coping mechanism. Born was The Pink Agenda (TPA), a not-for-profit charity in honor of her mother, committed to raising money for breast cancer research and care, offering programs that are improving the lives of those with breast cancer. Sharing her story, Marisa wants cancer survivors and their caregivers and families to know they are not alone, and remind our healthcare heroes why they chose the healthcare profession to begin with. Her ultimate goal is to raise awareness and reflect on the need to advance research. “We’re in a place where we could see certain forms of cancer actually be eradicated in our lifetime,” she says.