​​Imagine the shock of being diagnosed with breast cancer.  How might you feel?  Now, visualize the feelings of being in remission.  How might this excitement feel?  Then, consider the devastating impact of learning that your breast cancer returned, its stage 4, and you’re told that you have less than 6 months to live.  These are the feelings and experiences of Bershan Shaw — who was a star on OWN’s “Love in the Cityâ€.

Each of these challenges pushed Ms. Shaw to: become stronger, develop a positive mindset, focus on getting better, and ignite her inner warrior to battle this invasive cancer that attacked her body but not her spirit.  Ms. Shaw said, “Once you change your mind and thoughts, it helps to change your path.  If you think positive, it can lead to a process of action versus being negative and not doing anythingâ€.  These words are reflective of her mindset, which drove her to take action to recover.

While being treated for breast cancer with chemo therapy, Ms. Shaw observed that friends and family were suffering alone — even though they weren’t diagnosed with a terminal disease.  It wasn’t until she was in this very vulnerable state – while fighting for her life – that others started to disclose their personal challenges to her.  These were the moments that she realized that too many women needlessly suffered alone.

In 2013 while speaking about her battle with cancer, Ms. Shaw was emboldened by her recovery and lessons learned that she wanted to share these experiences with other women.  She didn’t want to focus solely on those who were sick.  Ms. Shaw was driven to create a bonding and support system so that women didn’t suffer alone.  This realization led her to create the “I Am A Warrior†Tour.

This weekend retreat is a no fluff event that begins by developing a woman’s inner warrior by sharing tools to unleash their self-love.  Ms. Shaw said, “There’s no time to wallow in their issues by making excuses.  Women need to own their challenges and move forward anyway.  There can’t be an easy way for these women to not deal with their issues by making excusesâ€.

The “I Am A Warrior†Tour is an opportunity to develop a sisterhood in an open, safe environment to discuss health, relationships, family, career, mental illness, rape, and much more.  The goal of this session – and the others – is for attendees to leave with actionable steps to make their lives better, more positive, and stronger.

Ms. Shaw added, “Women need to watch the words that are spoken to the universe; they have to use a positive self-talk.  Also, women need to adjust their negative activities based on trigger points that can lead to negative reactions.  If something leads to a negative outcome, then change things upâ€.

Let the empowerment begin because it’s time for the village of warriors to unite as strong, capable, and passionate women!   Ms. Shaw reminds women to continue to battle their challenges because … URAWARRIOR!