1. Rhonda M. Smith
Rhonda M. Smith is the Founder of Breast Cancer Partner, a for profit organization that creates
and delivers health and wellness education programs for women diagnosed with breast cancer
to help them understand how to optimize their health and wellness, improve
outcomes, and enhance long-term survivorship. Breast Cancer Partner also provides
tools, resources and information to help breast cancer survivors recover, restore and
reenergize after treatment.
Through her work, Rhonda’s goal is to empower women diagnosed with breast
cancer to become their own health and wellness advocate and adopt lifestyle
behaviors that minimize their risk of recurrence and other chronic diseases.
Ultimately, Rhonda wants to create a world in which each and every breast cancer
survivor lives a life that is full of vitality, cancer free and without fear, so that recovery is a
life-enhancing, and not a life-limiting event.
Rhonda served as a consultant on an NIH/NCI funded breast cancer research study at the
Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center and taught the health and wellness education program
component to the control group of the study. She has more than 20 years of experience in sales
and marketing management and learning and development consulting. Her corporate career
includes a tenure with Strat*X International, E. I. Dupont DeNemours & Co., and Eli Lilly.
Rhonda has parlayed her professional and personal experience into a unique skill set that
enables her to design and deliver health and wellness education experiences that result in
positive health and lifestyle behavior change.
Rhonda is also the President and Founder of Rhegal Consulting, a strategic learning and
development consultancy that focuses on elevating the knowledge skills and capabilities of
marketing and sales professionals. Rhonda has broad international learning and development
consulting experience, and has managed client engagements on 5 continents and more than 20
countries. Rhonda’s consulting experience has included developing and implementing learning
and development initiatives for companies such as GE, Office Depot, Johnson & Johnson, Glaxo
SmithKline, Abbott Laboratories, Novartis, Rolls Royce, and Xerox Corp.
Rhonda appeared in the October 2010 issue of More Magazine as a first runner-up in the
magazine’s essay contest on “Why this is the Most Fabulous Time in My Life”. She wrote an
essay on her breast cancer journey and how she has emerged from that experience with a new
identity and sense of purpose. Rhonda was also chosen to participate on the Merz Aesthtics’
expert advisory panel for their “Stand and Deliver Program”, a national initiative that
recognizes women who stand up for a cause they believe in and have an impact in their
community. Rhonda was also profiled and recognized as a woman who stands and delivers on
the More Magazine Reinvention TV Show in November 2011.
Rhonda earned her MBA in Marketing and Operations Management from the Colgate Darden
School of Business at the University of Virginia and her B.S. Degree in Civil Engineering from
Virginia Tech. Rhonda served as the Mission Integration Chair for the American Cancer Society’s
2012 Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk, and is a member of the Baptist Health South
Florida Breast Center’s Patient and Family Advisory Council. Rhonda is a Leadership Charlotte
alumnus, Immediate Past-Chair of the Board of The Women’s Fund of Miami-Dade, and a CEO
Forum member of The Commonwealth Institute South Florida. Rhonda served on the 2007 NFL
Super Bowl Special Events Committee, and in 2006 was named one of South Florida’s “25 Most
Prominent and Influential African-American Women by Success South Florida Magazine.