How Dreams Become Reality: Maddie King - Founder of For Andy

How to Find Opportunity in your Darkest Times

What should you do when life doesn’t go to plan?

Respond like Maddie King .

She was on track to become a professional ballerina in highschool before spraining both ACLs.

Instead of taking a backwards step, she marched into other worlds by delving into business podcasts.

This led her to pursuing a business degree.. until she got cancer.

But she survived, and used her experience to launch For Andy , a business that supports young women going through cancer.

Amongst all this, she still achieved a full-time Marketing career at Tiktok, Unilever and more.

Did I mention that she’s also a certified pilates instructor?

If you want to learn how to “find the glimmers of light and opportunity in the darkest of times”…

Then this one’s for you.

Q&A

What’s a dream you had as a child that has stayed with you to this day?

"Might be a strange response to this question, but I’ve dreamed of being a mother since I was a kid.?

Through all the chapters of my life, all my changing passions and interests, this has been the core dream that has withstood the test of time.?

However, when I was a child, this dream seemed like it would be a given, that it would be an easy thing to “do” once I was ready. Unfortunately the events in my life have challenged this assumption - as the chemotherapy I went through had a huge impact on my fertility, and now I do not know if I will be able to have kids that are biologically mine, but it is still one of my biggest dreams as a young woman."

What were early barriers to pursuing your biggest dreams, internal or external? What mindsets, habits and strategies helped you overcome them?

"I went to a performing arts highschool because I thought I was going to be a ballerina! It seems like a lifetime ago, I trained in a pre-professional capacity with ballet for nearly 10 years, thinking I would audition for companies and move overseas to do ballet as my career, until I sprained both ACLs when I was in year 10 and had to take 6 months off to recover. It was the first of many ‘barriers’ I would encounter, and the first time I learnt to be adaptable when life didn’t go my way.?

During this time I found a passion in listening to business podcasts, and entertained pursuing a Business Degree other than a full time ballet program after school. A few months later, my Dad died of cancer in 2016, and then a few years later I was diagnosed with cancer in 2019.?

Each circumstance created a huge shock to the plans I had laid for my life ahead, but I’d say it’s less about “overcoming” the barriers, and more about learning to be flexible with your expectations of how your life will look, and finding the glimmers of light and opportunity in the darkest of times."

What’s been most fulfilling about running “This is for Andy”? How have you managed your full-time roles whilst also being a founder and pilates instructor?

"I have been able to connect with the most incredible and resilient community of female cancer patients, ranging from young kids to older mothers. Hearing their stories and how impactful my creations are for their self esteem during the worst of times is truly special, and I am grateful to play even a small role in improving their quality of life.?

Priorities in my own life have shifted and changed over time, and I’m currently trying to put the cancer chapter behind me for my own mental health, so running the business has taken more of a backseat where I just passively pack orders as they come through and don’t push sales as much as I did a few years back.?

This has also helped me focus on my marketing career and on Pilates so I don’t spend so many hours delving into the worst thing that ever happened to me!?

However, running For Andy opened up a lot of advocacy opportunities to speak and educate people as well as working closer with charity organisations which is what I am truly passionate about and takes up more of my spare time these days!"

How can readers contribute to changing the “pity narrative” surrounding cancer survivors?

"I think a lot of people get their ‘cancer education’ from pop-culture, where movies and TV shows romanticise and hyperbolise the cancer experience in a way that suits their narrative. Because it is such a big scary topic, most are scared to actually ask patients and survivors about their experience because it feels taboo, and they assume that the emotions and experiences they see portrayed in the media are accurate for all.?

I would encourage readers to engage in thoughtful, open conversations with any patients or survivors in their life and candidly ask them about their experience.?

A good way to open this is to say, “please only share if you feel comfortable to, but I would love to understand more about XXXXX”."

If you could capture the attention of every single person for thirty seconds, what would you say?

"GET YOUR CANCER CHECKS ON TIME & DON’T DELAY SEEING A GP ABOUT CHANGES IN YOUR BODY!"

I hope Maddie’s story inspired you as much as it did me.

You can connect with Maddie here:?

• @mxddieking on Instagram
• Maddie's LinkedIn

You can support For Andy here:

• For Andy

And as always,

Keep dreamaking.