Beyond the Ribbon: Perky x EPIC After

You know the ribbon. But do you know the women behind it?

Every October, we see pink. We hear stories of strength, courage, survival and hope. Women affected by breast cancer are called warriors, fighters, heroes and inspirations.

And they are.

But they are also so much more than the most difficult thing that has happened to them. That idea became the heart of our Inspiring AND Desired campaign with EPIC After.

And to understand how this collaboration came together, you have to start with the women behind EPIC After: Krystal and Stacy.

When a Shared Diagnosis Becomes a Shared Purpose

Both diagnosed with breast cancer in their early 30s, Krystal and Stacy met through a breast cancer nonprofit and quickly discovered something bigger than a shared diagnosis: a shared purpose. Together, they spent years creating spaces where women could connect, feel understood, and navigate everything that comes with life during and after breast cancer.

But they also recognized that breast cancer is only one of the many experiences that can divide life into a before and after. Illness, grief, loss, divorce, caregiving, trauma, and other major life changes can alter the way we see ourselves and the future we thought we were going to have. And while there is often support for getting through the hardest part, there can be far less conversation about what happens when you’re left asking, “Now what?”

That idea became EPIC After: a space rooted in the belief that life after something life-altering doesn’t have to be about getting back to who you were before. It can be about discovering who you are now, finding connection in the messy middle, and creating an “after” that still holds joy, purpose, confidence, and possibility.

For Krystal and Stacy, their story may have started with breast cancer, but it was never going to end there.

Why Perky + EPIC After Came Together

At Perky, much of our work also exists in the “after.”

We meet women after mastectomies, breast reconstruction, radiation, surgeries and scars. Through restorative nipple-areola tattooing, scar camouflage and our other services, we see how deeply physical changes can intersect with identity.

Restoration isn't simply about how something looks.

It can be about recognizing yourself again.

It can be about intimacy.

It can be about reclaiming a part of your body that has spent months or years being examined, operated on, discussed and treated medically.

And sometimes, it can simply be about wanting to feel beautiful.

That common ground between Perky and Happily EPIC After became the foundation for Inspiring AND Desired.

Inspiring AND Desired

Women affected by breast cancer are so often celebrated for their strength.

But somewhere along the way, being seen as “inspiring” can become another box.

The patient.

The survivor.

The warrior.

The brave one.

The pink ribbon.

What happens when she wants to be seen as something else, too? What if she wants to feel feminine?

Sexy?

Soft?

Confident?

Desired?

What if she doesn't want every photograph, conversation or compliment to come back to cancer?

Inspiring AND Desired was created around a simple idea: those things do not have to compete. A woman can be inspiring and desired. She can be grateful to be alive and still grieve what cancer changed. She can be proud of her scars and have complicated feelings about them. She can appreciate being called strong and sometimes wish people would stop talking about her strength altogether.

She can be a survivor, a previvor or living with metastatic disease and still be a whole person whose identity extends far beyond breast cancer.

We Brought the Conversation to the Table

The campaign photos tell one part of this story. But something else happened that day that we believe deserves just as much attention. We brought women affected by breast cancer around one table and started talking.

Not polished talking points. Not the version of survivorship that fits neatly onto a pink graphic in October. Real conversations.

We talked about body image and femininity. We talked about intimacy and relationships. We talked about what cancer takes and what women rebuild afterward. We talked about previvorship and what it means to make life-altering decisions to prevent a cancer you may never develop. We talked about metastatic breast cancer and the realities that can disappear beneath generalized messaging about “beating” cancer. We talked about identity, sexuality, fear, humor, grief, confidence and what it means to move through the world in a body that has experienced breast cancer.

There were different diagnoses, different experiences and different perspectives sitting at that table. And that was exactly the point.

There isn't one way to experience breast cancer. There isn't one definition of survivorship. And there certainly isn't one version of what life afterward is supposed to look like.

These Conversations Are Coming Next

Throughout this campaign, we don't just want to show you beautiful photographs. We want you to hear the women in them.

In the coming weeks, we'll be sharing pieces of the roundtable conversations from our day with EPIC After.

Some are vulnerable. Some are funny. Some may challenge the way we traditionally talk about breast cancer. And some may finally put words to something another woman has been feeling quietly for years.

That is why we wanted to capture them.

Breast Cancer Awareness Month creates an enormous amount of attention around breast cancer. We believe some of that attention should be used to listen to the people whose lives have actually been shaped by it. Not only to admire them. Not only to call them brave.

But to see them fully.

More Than the Ribbon

There is a woman behind every pink ribbon.

She has relationships, desires, insecurities, inside jokes, plans, grief, sexuality, opinions, fears and an entire identity that existed before cancer and continues beyond it.

Cancer may become part of her story. It does not get to become all of it.

That's what this collaboration between Perky and EPIC After is ultimately about.

Making room for the whole woman. The inspiring parts. The complicated parts. The parts that don't fit neatly into traditional breast cancer messaging.

And yes, the parts that still want to feel beautiful and desired.

You know the ribbon. Now, we want you to know the women behind it. Stay with us as we share the conversations from the table.

There is so much more to say.