How Our Hair BRA-Zaar Events Help Fight Breast Cancer

At Summit Salon Academy, we’re celebrating our fourth annual Hair BRA-Zaar event. For the past four years, Summit has hosted this event where students decorate a bra and create an entire look based on that bra. This year’s theme is “Under the Big Top”, which encourages students to create a circus-themed look. Not only will our students be able to show off their creativity, but they will also be helping our community! All the proceeds from this event will go to the Wings of Karen Foundation, a nonprofit organization that’s dedicated to researching breast cancer here in the Pacific Northwest. This nonprofit was started by an amazing woman, Kristi Blair. After her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, Kristi later discovered that she had been diagnosed with it herself. As the founder of this nonprofit, Kristi hopes to make a difference in the world. Read more to learn about Kristi and her amazing journey!

Inspiration for This Foundation

After her mom was diagnosed with breast cancer, Kristi made it her mission to learn more about it and how she could help her mom through it. “I started to really follow what these researchers and doctors were doing,” she says. “[I] really became quite self-taught in understanding how to read all these scans and blood work and it became my own personal mission to understand cancer.” After a courageous battle with cancer, her mom passed away and since then Kristi has done amazing work to make sure that her mom’s legacy lives on. Wings of Karen is named after her mother, Karen Denmark.

Starting the Research

To honor her mom, Kristi started getting mammograms every year on her mother’s birthday. Worried at first that she was being too paranoid, Kristi discovered she had breast cancer at age 34. Although this news scared her, Kristi decided that she needed to do something active and positive with this information. At the time, doctors were researching vaccines for breast cancer and Kristi decided to contact them, letting them know her desire to help further their discoveries. Doctor Disis, who worked on this project, showed Kristi how she’s making progress with the vaccines.

“Having a vaccine for breast cancer is enormous,” she says. Kristi believes that a lot of people fear cancer because of the treatments, and that’s why she was grateful to participate in research that aims to prevent cancer through a vaccination. Kristi was able to help doctors learn more by taking the vaccine, which she says is just like a shot. After three years of treatment, she is now doing what she can to help further this research for the future.

Continuing to Learn More

Since Kristi, her mom, and her aunt have all had breast cancer, she wants to do her part in making sure that the proper research is done so future generations can have a cure. With four daughters, Kristi hopes that this research can even help prevent them from getting it as well. That’s why she encourages people to donate to this cause. Kristi says researchers at the University of Washington believe that with the proper funding, they can provide a prevention to this disease within a decade. “[The University of Washington] Medicine is doing inspiring work. Without funding research, you really can’t count on any cures,” she says. “Truly we are being held from a treatment that could possibly keep someone alive because of money.”

Want to Get Involved?

We are so amazed with Kristi’s work and we are proud to work with Wings of Karen every year! If you want to help in the fight against breast cancer, you can click here to donate to Wings of Karen.

You can help support the Wings of Karen foundation by coming to our Hair BRA-Zaar event. At this event, guests will be able to see our students’ creativity while also supporting this great cause. Click here to purchase tickets.

If you want to get involved with the community while also doing what you love, then our cosmetology program could be a great next step for you. Contact us to find out how you can get started!