By Lisa Van de Ven
You could say that Ashleigh Dempster and Amanda Blakley are prettyfamiliar with their breasts. The friends, both 28, have created careers out of raising breast cancer awareness.
As founders of the annual Booby Ball, they’ve personally raised about $200,000 for the cause. Now Amanda is the National Manager of Special Events for Rethink Breast Cancer, while Ashleigh is National Corporate Development Officer for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. The pair say they were always creative and social growing up, but it was an unexpected event at 23 that propelled them to use those skills for a greater good and find the paths to their current careers.
“One of my best friends since I was five years old, and a friend of Ashleigh’s as well, was diagnosed with stage-four breast cancer,” says Amanda—a small town, Ontario native with a degree in Fine Arts from the University of Western Ontario and a post-graduate degree in Advertising. “That was really the start of the Booby Ball. It was myself and Ashleigh and a bunch of other friends that pulled the committee together, wanting to raise money for Sarah, but also to raise her spirits.” While their friend Sarah went into remission, the pair continued hosting the Booby Ball on an annual basis. Inviting other young people to buy tickets and contribute to the breast cancer cause. They also figured out their own knack for planning social events with a hip twist.
That, in turn, helped them land their dream jobs at two of Canada’s most well-known charitable organizations. It was their self-motivated involvement, in making the Booby Ball a success, that showed their current employers that they were not only passionate for the cause, but had the chops to do their jobs well. Now, Amanda organizes events throughout the year for Rethink, while Ashleigh works on the annual Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation CIBC Run for the Cure.
As if that wasn’t enough, the friends have also started The Society (www.thesociety toronto.com), designed to provide chic cultural events for Toronto’s young professionals looking for interesting outings that match their budgets.
“We make culture an affordable luxury,” says Ashleigh, who grew up near Collingwood and studied Sociology and Business at Dalhousie University. “[It’s for] people who are on the cutting edge, they’re interested in undiscovered things.” People that sound a lot like Ashleigh and Amanda themselves.
photography: arash moallemi
