Fighting Cancer with the PMC’s Team Kermit

Posted on August 26, 2011May 20, 2013 by Valentina Rosa

I founded the Pan-Mass Challenge’s Team Kermit with seven other close friends in 2005. That year we raised $56,000. In 2011 our team had 50 riders. This year we’ve raised $268,000. In six years we’ve raised approximately $USD1.2 million, 100% of which goes to the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in the Jared P. Branfman Sunflowers for Life Fund.

Valentina Rosa, TRA360 founder and CEO, at the PMC Finish 2011

My five greatest memories in PMC 2011 were:

Seeing my friend Tym Rourke speak at the Opening Ceremonies about his six-year-old son and our Pedal Partner Declan. What a story and what an incredibly wonderful boy. Look for Tym’s presentation in my previous PMC blog post.
Seeing Lance Armstrong speak from 20 feet away at the Opening Ceremonies and lining up 8 feet from him at the start. Lance is much bigger than the bike and his aura radiates that. As he said in the Opening Ceremonies, “My job is to put myself out of business.”
Riding alongside Alison Soule, one of my newest friends and fellow Kermit, 10 days removed from her most recent chemo treatment for breast cancer. Riding with Chris Smith, a first-time Kermit who is legally blind. Read more about Chris on the Dedham News Transcript website. Alison and Chris are inspirations to all of us.
Receiving all the great cheers for Team Kermit from the thousands of spectators lining the course. Hearing the hoots, hollers, and cheers of “Go Kermits!” “Like the frogs!” and “Great caps!” kept us flying down the road.
Meeting my first two fundraising milestones: $4,200 (two-day riding commitment) and $6,400 (Heavy Hitter). And, with my fundraising total now at $7,239, I’m 90% toward my overall goal of $8,000. I’m very confident that I’m going to reach and maybe even exceed my goal!

Week in Review: International Symposium on NanoTechnology, Citizen Schools, Venture Cafe, Innovation Breakfast and How Brian Halligan made my day…

Posted on August 12, 2011May 20, 2013 by Valentina Rosa

This totally wasn’t a busy week or anything 😛

I spent the first few days volunteering to work at the International Symposium on Nanotechnology at the Westin Hotel and man was it cool. I got to sit in on presentations and discussions about nanotechnology on the cutting edge with some of the world’s leaders in the field. I bet I could school >95% of all business majors on the topic now. I find it so fascinating sometimes I wish I had been a science major. To see gold nanoparticles buzzing around though a high powered microscope was incredible. It is certainly an uphill battle for scientists to catalog all of the new particles being created, especially given the fact that their properties change based on size, structure and relative disparity. The periodic table doesn’t work on the nano sale.

Speaking of awesomeness, I got invited to a Gala at Citizen Schools thanks to John Werner. It was great event filled with tons of people doing interesting things. I made some new friends and had some very interesting conversations about physics and even marketing. I was recommended to read the book Predictably Irrational by Dan Airely and after reading just the first chapter I would pass on that recommendation to anyone. MIT is great at assembling bright minds (Duh) and though it may not be possible, I’m seriously considering making a run at it for my Master’s degree. Sure my GPA isn’t so hot, but

I think they’re looking for things that cannot be quantified so easily. Being around bright minds is like light to my eyes and I want to seek out the best from hereon in.

Speaking of the best, I’ve got to give a shoutout to Hubspot and Brian Halligan. They sent me a free pass to the Inbound Marketing Summit coming up this September which is epic considering it costs $700. I couldn’t thank you guys enough, but I will certainly try. Thanks to me being a student, I also get to attend the entire Future M (Future of Marketing) week for free. Hence my tweet about it with the hashtag #Winning. Sorry professors, but I will not be in class that week. Hopefully they will understand.

It was nice seeing some old friends at the Venture Cafe this week. I realized for my schedule I made months ago that it would overlap with VC’s this fall. Epic fail on my part and I’m doing my best to change it. I find the cafes to be some of the best networking events I’ve attended, and highly recommend it. Today I got to attend a Innovation Breakfast with an intimate group in Waltham. Chatting about social media is always a good time and since I don’t know it all, I like to learn. Like my twitter says, I’m a social media expert in training. I’ll surely be a lot closer after these next few month, but can anyone really be an expert in such a new field? I didn’t think so either…

Fighting Cancer for the PMC: 274 Miles on the Bike

Posted on August 9, 2011May 20, 2013 by Valentina Rosa

This past Friday–Sunday (August 5–7) I rode in my tenth Pan-Mass Challenge, a bike ride fundraiser for the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and The Jimmy Fund. 5,000 riders rode distances of 84 to 192 miles over 1 or 2 days. I rode 192 miles from Sturbridge to Provincetown, MA over 2 days. I did an extra 82 miles with other 11 teammates on Friday to the start line. Yes, I’m a bit crazy to take on these extra miles, especially on a challenging, hilly course 1 day before the main event.

Here is a video of the PMC Opening Ceremonies. See how the PMC bike riding community fights cancer.

PMC 2011 Opening Ceremonies at Sturbridge from David Hellman on Vimeo.

If you can’t hang in there for 49+ minutes, here are a couple of must-sees:

Jump to 15mins 15 secs to see a question-and-answer with Lance Armstrong, a first-time PMC rider you may have heard of.
Jump to 31mins 35 secs to see an emotional and inspiring speech by Tym Rourke, father of 6-year-old Declan Rourke. Declan is our Pedal Partner and some of the funds our PMC Team Kermit raised has gone to Declan’s treatments. If you watch Tym’s presentation and finish it with a dry eye, check your pulse.