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Light the Night gala going virtual this year

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BY KRISTINE CANNON

Progress Staff Writer

Raising $1 million in the midst of a pandemic may seem an overwhelming feat, but for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, it’s a necessary one.

After all, as the society puts it, cancer doesn’t stop during a global crisis.

September is Lymphoma Awareness Month and Blood Cancer Awareness Month and according to the society, nearly 1.3 million people in the U.S. live with or are in remission from a blood cancer. As part of the non-profit’s signature community fundraising campaign Light the Night, which helps fund blood cancer research, LLS has already raised more than $85,000 of its $1 million goal.

“[One million dollars] was last year’s fundraising goal too and we hit $1.1 million, which was awesome,” said Scottsdale resident and Corporate Walk Chair

BY KRISTINE CANNON

Progress Staff Writer When Debra Lee Murrow, the owner of ColorMe Art Spa, works with her clients to create her signature ColorMe art pieces that focus on words and phrases, she asks them not how they feel but what they want to feel.

And during the pandemic, “peace,” “gratitude” and “love” are some words her clients have used to help them, in a way, color the stress and chaos away.

“From the very beginning, my art started with words and phrases because I for Light the Night, Liz Scott.

“Even given COVID and everything going on, the team at [LLS] is just not willing to give up on the [$1 million] goal.”

While the Light the Night event typically attracts thousands of attendees — all of whom carry white, gold, and red lanterns at the evening walk, resulting in a visually stunning spectacle — this year’s walk will instead be virtual on Nov. 14.

“One of the most special parts of it is they have what we call the survivor circle. So, prior to the walk actually starting, all the survivors are asked to gather together in the middle with their white lanterns, and then everybody else is surrounding them – I’m getting goosebumps just saying it – with their red and gold lanterns, and they’ll beam of white light shoots up into the sky,” Scott described.

“It’s just this beautiful moment of support.”

This year’s walk may look different for safety reasons, but, Scott said, “it’s still wanted to help people understand how powerful their words [are],” Murrow said.

“We get into, ‘What are you in need of?’ and, especially now, people are need of peace.” Since 2000, Murrow has introduced customers and clients from all over the country to her trademarked ColorMe art style, which focus on specific words and phrases “interwoven into bold and thin brush lines.”

“I’ve always been interested in art, and I went through a spiritual journey in my twenties when I heard Tony Robbins say, ‘You can have fun with your natural talents and God-given ability,” Murrow going to be very, very meaningful.”

According to Campaign Development Manager Edyth Haro, Light the Night’s virtual platform will be an “interactive and engaging experience.

“That way, LLS supporters and volunteers will enjoy the same iconic elements of Light the Night – illuminated lanterns, Circle of Survivors and the Remembrance Pavilion – in a different format but with the same passion to bring an end to blood cancers once and for all.”

“They’re wanting it to be, obviously, very safe,” Scott added. “We have people that are currently battling cancer. We want to make sure of an abundance of caution that they’re protected.”

Raising awareness and money

Scottsdale resident and Professor of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology at the Mayo Clinic Dr. Lisa Rimsza is one of the newest members to join the Lymphoma Research Foundation’s Scientific Advisory Board. (LRF)

ColorMe Art seeks to address pandemic anxiety

Peace. Gratitude. Love.

seeLYMPHOMA page 22 said.

“So, I read the Bible, I read self-improvement books. I read spiritual books, and I came out with a revelation of the power of words.”

Pre-pandemic, Murrow taught art classes at least twice a week at senior living facilities.

She also brought her ColorMe Art Spa, an art-teaching and art-creation company that offers art classes and experiences, to corporate and other events

But the pandemic brought it all to a halt – “Oh, screeching,” Murrow said.

The Scottsdale resident began offering virtual art classes via Zoom and commissioned art pieces.

She also saw a spike in sales for her Art To-Go packages. “At least a 20 percent increase,” Murrow said.

Murrow’s Art To-Go packages range from coloring name cards to DIY birthday party art packages. Those feature custom-made, hand-crafted items, like an 18-by-24-inch drawing, a puzzle, necklaces and postcards, that customers can color in.

Packages can cost anywhere from just

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Arizona will host its 2020 Greater Phoenix Light the Night virtual event on Nov. 14. Last year’s evening walk saw thousands of attendees. (LLS)

LYMPHOMA from page 21

for blood cancer research is important for the longtime volunteer.

Scott’s grandfather, Earl Norman Dorn, was diagnosed with leukemia in 1995 and lost his battle the following year at 75.

Scott’s husband’s older brother, Richard Douglas Bell, also lost his life to leukemia in 1976 at the age of 13, following a several-year battle with the disease.

“It’s something that has, unfortunately, touched both sides of our family, and it’s really in memory of them that I do the work that I do and volunteer and fundraise,” Scott said.

From now through Nov. 14, individuals and corporate teams alike will continue to raise money for Light the Night.

The Executive Challenge, however, doesn’t start until Sept. 21. Scott’s team hopes to raise $50,000.

“It is very competitive, which is great. That’s exactly what we want,” Scott said, adding that they hope to have at least 30 executives participate this year to meet a fundraising goal of $300,000.

All money raised will go directly to LLS to help fight blood cancers, including funding research to find cures.

One such accomplished researcher who has dedicated her career to fighting lymphoma is Dr. Lisa Rimsza, Scottsdale resident and Professor of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology at the Mayo Clinic.

In July, Rimsza joined the Lymphoma Research Foundation’s Scientific Advisory Board for the second time.

The foundation is the nation’s largest non-profit organization devoted exclusively to funding innovative lymphoma research.

Lisa’s expertise in hemopathology and anatomic and clinical pathology will help the foundation to better understand lymphoma.

“I’m just really honored,” Rimsza said of her appointment to the board. “The first time I participated, I founded a great group of people that really dedicated themselves to lymphoma and supported really high research standards, great patient information and great patient advocacy.”

The advisory board comprises 45 world-renowned lymphoma experts who guide the foundation’s research portfolio, seeking out the most innovative and promising lymphoma research projects for support.

The board also evaluates the progress of on-going research projects and guides the strategic direction of the foundation’s research programs and scientific consortia.

“We make decisions about what where the lymphoma research field is going and what types of research questions should be asked,” Rimsza explained in part.

Rimsza’s research interests include clinical assay development in B-cell nonHodgkin lymphoma, HIV-related lymphomas, and immune evasion and oncogene dysregulation in lymphomas.

It’s been just two months since Rimsza joined the board, and she already has about 25 projects going, including working on aggressive B-cell lymphomas and T-cell lymphomas and creating diagnostic tests that can be used to identify subsets of patients that meet different types of chemotherapies.

“In my lab, I also have a clinical portion – it’s considered sort of an extension of the hospital labs – where I can apply these special tests to patients’ biopsies,” Rimsza said. In 2016, Rimsza co-invented a genetic test to help guide diagnosis and treatment of patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

“We are working with a company that’s going to commercialize that. All the data has been submitted to the FDA, which is supposed to be reviewing them,” she said.

When Rimsza was a member of the foundations’ advisory board from 2008 to 2013, she said it was exciting to talk to patients and answer their questions.

“I work as a pathologist. Usually, we call ourselves the ‘doctor’s doctor’ because we call the other doctors and we say, ‘This is a disease that your patient has.’ So, I’m used to professional conversation,” she said.

This time around, Rimsza said she’s excited to take part in foundation’s career mentorship program.

“It’s all part of mentoring the next generation of people,” she said.

“They mentor young faculty who want to go into doing clinical trials to improve therapy for patients. But they’ve also added in a category for people who want to do laboratory research in lymphoma. I have taught there in the past, so I’m excited to get involved with that and help take some sort of leadership role.”

The foundation’s signature fundraisers, like Light the Night, have helped the organization invest nearly $1.3 billion in cutting-edge research worldwide.

According to Executive Director Jim Brewer, fundraising this year is more important than ever. “Blood cancer patients need us now more than ever,” Brewer said. “We will gather virtually to bring light to the darkness of cancer.”

“As we’ve done throughout our 71- year history, LLS will ‘virtually’ reinvent the peer-to-peer fundraising category through our unparalleled ingenuity, resourcefulness, innovation and relentless drive to deliver our mission.”

Information: lightthenight.org, ymphoma.org

COLORME ART from page 21 ogy Today” puts it, “examine the psyover $40 to $340, and Murrow spends their art.” a few days creating and putting them “Art therapy… I didn’t like to use the together. word a couple of years ago, but now, I

“I do a lot of it by hand, meaning all the love to use the word because we do need cutting of the plastic. And then if they it – we need some therapy – and art is want the pieces initialed and customthe best way to go,” Murrow said. ized, I can do that, too,” she said. In addition to creating and delivering

Murrow has shipped her Art To-Go more Art To-Go packages, Murrow repackages to customers in Texas, Chicago, New England, and more.

“I’ve done a 4-yearold party [and] I did a 60-year-old birthday party, so it hits every level. It’s something nice and cool and special, and people treat it as such,” Murrow said.

“It’s really about pulling the people together to do more of the art.”

The packages aren’t new ColorMe Art Spa offerings, but “the pandemic put it more on the forefront,” Murrow said. Not only have they offered a way for families Scottsdale artist Debra Lee Murrow helps people find their artistic creativity amid the COVID-19 pandemic to bond by creating art through her Art to Go packages, which feature her signatogether, but the packture ColorMe art style that focuses on words and phrases. ages have also been a (ColorMe Art Spa/Facebook) way for Murrow’s cuschological and emotional undertones in tomers to help navigate their feelings and cently began live-painting at the newly emotions in response to the pandemic. opened Creative Gateways gallery at

“Maybe somebody’s feeling really Scottsdale Fashion Square. down and they’re like, ‘I just don’t feel She also had her first in-person corpoany love. Everybody’s fighting. Everyrate art event since the start of the panbody has masks on. I just need to have demic. a little more love.’ So, that’s my favorite “I’ll be hosting a live and in-person word to create,” she said. art ministry once a month,” Murrow

“When you’re creating an art piece added. “And I’m slowly moving into ofaround the word, it can transcend your fering some coaching. I’m going to offer brain into relaxation and then you add a three-month class, [where] we show the art in. You can do a wonderful job for up every Monday for two hours and I your psyche to be able to sit down and help people get creating and give them create a piece of art.” different assignments every week.”

According to several studies, art theraBeing an artist in the midst of a panpy can help reduce feelings of stress and demic isn’t easy, but for Murrow, it conanxiety. tinues to be rewarding.

Art therapy uses creative techniques, “My specialty is I bring people togethlike drawing, painting, or coloring, er through art,” she said. “It’s really healamong others, to help people express ing art in itself.” themselves artistically, and, as “PsycholInformation: colormeartspa.com

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Letters

Pray, breathe deep during these turbulent times

My Dad fought in World War II under Patton. As a child, I knew that if I asked my Dad a question about the war, my Mom would immediately raise a finger to her lips, frown and shake her head, indicating to me to change the subject. I quickly learned those who experience combat do not discuss it with bravado.

One day, after learning about the Battle of the Bulge at school, I asked my Dad about it when I got home. I told him I wanted to know how he got any sleep with all that noise going on around him. He gave out a loud laugh and then answered, “Well, I would climb into a foxhole, say the Act of Contrition and take several slow, deep breaths and fall asleep.” I was confounded. “Dad, how could you do that with all of those guns and Nazis trying to kill you?” He told me that in combat he quickly learned the key was to always remain calm in the midst of anger, chaos and panic. My parents have passed away. They were exceptional people. What Dad told me that day was a great “life lesson.” I have not always been successful in applying it to my own life, but I think it would help all of us right now if we would pray and keep trying to take several slow, deep breaths during these turbulent times. -Michele Kocour

We need a national suicide hotline passed now

September is Suicide Prevention Month and it’s that we be there for each other and take steps to prevent suicide. The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s theme for the month is to #KeepGoing, by taking simple actions to safeguard our mental health and save lives. From learning the warning signs for suicide and what to do if you are worried someone is struggling, to bringing education programs to your community, we can all learn new ways to help each other save lives. One action I’m taking is to urge my public officials to prioritize suicide prevention and mental health. When someone is in acute crisis, it’s hard for them to think clearly, and even reaching out for help can be a struggle. For this reason, it is vital that Congress pass the National Suicide Hotline Designation Act (H.R.4194/S.2661) to make a three-digit number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline a reality. This legislation will provide the funding and resources needed by crisis centers across the country that support those struggling with their mental health and thoughts of suicide. In this time of uncertainty, we all need to find new ways to connect and support each other. Together, we #KeepGoing. -Aimee Lespron

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Online consignment shopping surges here

BY KRISTINE CANNON

Progress Staff Writer

Shoppers may not be keen to rummage through racks at secondhand stores for clothing, but used furniture sales and consignments are going through the roof.

Shoppers are also spending more time shopping high-end, luxury secondhand treasures online and on social media, two Scottsdale-based consignment store owners report.

“My Sister’s Attic, which is our furniture and home furnishing store, is doing really well. It actually beat last year’s comp sales, which in a time like this is heard of,” said Ann Siner, CEO and co-founder of consignment retail stores My Sister’s Closet, My Sister’s Attic and Well Suited.

Less than a mile south of My Sister’s Closet’s Lincoln Village store, To Be Continued has also seen success amid the COVID-19 crisis.

Since pivoting to Instagram and turning its brick-and-mortar store into a hybrid online destination, the luxury consignment store at the Shops at Hilton Village has seen a 57 percent year-overyear growth since the onset of the pandemic and a monthly increase of 1,000 followers on Instagram.

“At the onset of the pandemic in March, everything came to a screeching halt as we were suddenly unable to service our client base who regularly traveled to our brickand-mortar locations to buy and sell their luxury goods. So, we had to think quickly and strategically,” said Chrissy Sayare, coowner of To Be Continued.

That meant focusing on their digital presence and offering virtual styling sessions through Instagram Stories in order to consign their designer handbags, ap

Scottsdale-based luxury consignment store To Be Continued saw 57 percent year-over-year growth since the onset of the pandemic, thanks to its social media and online presence. (To Be Continued)

Scottsdale prof’s new book looks at time well spent

BY PROGRESS NEWS STAFF

With a 30-page resume enumerating 57 years of teaching at four universities, over 300 publications and presentations and more than a dozen consulting roles to the likes of Shell Oil and the American Cancer Society, one might expect Dr. David Van Fleet would be spending his retirement fishing or pursuing a sedentary pastime.

Wrong.

The Scottsdale resident has just written his 12th book – and it may upend a lot of the thinking by managers and employees alike who pay more attention to “putting in their hours” instead of what they do with that time.

“Management and workers alike must focus on what’s accomplished on the job rather than the clock to be flexible and ready to adapt to changing conditions,” said Fleet, whose new book, “Quality Time: Productivity Through Time Management” is available at infoagepub.com.

Offering concepts to help employers and workers cope with the COVID-19 pandemic in the workplace, the book has already drawn plaudits by some corporate and other executives.

Among them is HonorHealth Scottsdale CEO Todd LaPorte, who praised Van Fleet’s “broadly comprehensive and immediately applicable look at the ways we can make team’s use of time better” and his “novel use of the V-REEL Framework to focus the efforts to improve team time.”

Basically, a V-Reel Framework provides a practical guide to strategically thinking through what a manager or employee knows and needs to know about their resources and capabilities in assessing their potential for creating value in the marketplace.

And when it comes to considering time in that equation, Van Fleet’s new book says, the hours on the job don’t matter “but rather how that time is used to achieve individual and organizational productivity goals.”

Retirement has helped Van Fleet clarify his thinking on this subject.

While he has led time-management workshops and seminars for years, he ex

parel, shoes, accessories and more to those shopping from home.

“We’ve been able to access clients from all over the world that are purchasing our products in real time,” Sayare said. “Over the last few months, we’ve shipped Louis Vuitton and Prada bags to the beaches of Turk and Caicos, Hermes handbags to Hong Kong and a Karl Lagerfeld vintage handbag to the head handbag designer for Chanel in Paris. It’s truly amazing to see the demand during these times.”

According to research from Future Market Insights, a retail analytics firm, online resellers – think Poshmark and Thredup – are expected to jump from $30 million in sales in the United States in 2020 to $70 million by 2027.

Traditional in-store thrift and resale, however, are expected to drop from $57 million in 2020 to $50 million by 2027. As Siner embraced embrace social media and expanded their virtual presence, offering FaceTime shopping for their customers, in-store shopping boomed – specifically at her My Sister’s Attic stores in Scottsdale, Chandler and Encinitas, California.

“We’re up 25 percent in Arizona and 14 percent in California. That’s just for the month of August,” Siner said.

People are not only spending more money, but they’re also consigning more plained, “I changed my thinking as a result of two recent books I read. Being retired gave me time to work on it.”

Long before the pandemic, Van Fleet has used his time productively.

He taught for 30 years at Arizona State University – 20 at its West Campus and 10 at its Polytechnic Campus in Mesa – and before that was on the Texas A&M faculty for 16 years, three years at the University of Akron in Ohio and eight years teaching at the University of Tennessee while finishing his doctorate.

He has won dozens of awards and honoraria, led or participated in numerous research projects and estimated he has taught more than 14,000 students along the way.

Van Fleet said his new book is aimed at having bosses rethink their approach to productivity among their workforce so they can “inspire employees and ensure fairness, consistency and a futureoriented workplace culture.”

Management and workers alike must consider adopting some new ways as “the new norm” in the post COVID-19 era, he said.

“No doubt the world of work will never go back to exactly what it had been,” he said. “Organizations will need to be flexible and ready to adapt to changing conditions.” "Hence the importance on looking at how time is used to achieve individual and organizational productivity goals.”

“Managers who get upset over employees coming to work late or socializing on the job often care more about them ‘putting in time’ than putting their time to good use,” said Van Fleet, who has devoted countless hours since 1975 to studying and writing about time management and organizational behavior.

“Managers who focus on time usually

tion Hardware, Roche Bobois, good basics like Crate and Barrel, Pottery Barn. Everything’s in great condition or we won’t take it; and it’s coming in so fast and furious,” Siner said, suggesting this spike is likely the result of cabin fever. “I think because people were stuck at home and they looked around their house, ‘I need a new dining room.’ Or, they moved their office home and need some new office things. Or, they weren’t modeled, or they got a divorce,” Siner surmised. “It was life-changing, for so many people to be at home for so long.” Unlike To Be ConChrissy Sayare is the co-owner of To Be Continued, a tinued, clothing sales luxury consignment store located at the Shops at Hilton at Siner’s My Sister’s Village. (To Be Continued) Closet stores were a different story: items than ever before — and quality Arizona Closets was furniture and decor at that. down in August compared to last year by

“We’ve always gotten really nice things 20 percent – and that’s considered their but the quality of the furniture right best month since the shutdown. now is just craziness: a lot of RestoraWhy aren’t people buying used clothing? BUSINESS 27

“People have nowhere to go,” Siner said simply. “You’re not going to a cocktail party. You’re really not going out to a restaurant very often. And you have no galas, no fundraisers, no social events. You’re not even going to meetings in person, so you don’t need new party clothes or even new work wear.”

According to a July survey from Mintel, 33 percent of people have stopped buying clothes entirely while 32 percent have concerns about shopping for clothes in a store.

Over the past two weekends, however, Siner did see glimmers of hope:

Their Fall Unveiling event, where more than 100,000 fall items were unveiled, saw nearly 100 people lined up in the heat to shop at their Lincoln Village store.

Crowding isn’t an issue at My Sister’s Closet stores, either; both their flagship store in Scottsdale and their store in Chandler are a staggering 15,000 square feet.

While My Sister’s Closet stores may not be reporting strong consignment numbers, To Be Continued has – thanks to its new trade program, which allows shoppers to trade in items at no additional cost.

Once the deal has been negotiated, To Be Continued then authenticates, photographs and takes ownership of the new items and sells them through its online store for a profit.

Information: mysistersattic.com and

BOOK from page 25

tbcconsignment.com.

concentrate on the wrong things,” he said. “They’re saying that being on the job is important when they should be saying that what’s accomplished on the job is what is really important.”

“Time-conscious bosses often focus more on clock than job being done,” he added, suggesting that some people with flexible working hours may actually do more than others who are on rigid clocks.

“I can understand why an assembly line production manager would get upset if someone came late, and if a store is to open at 10 a.m. then someone has to be there, but these are cases involving interdependency. That’s another issue,” he said.

“There are a tremendous number of jobs where performance, not time, should be emphasized,” he continued. “People should be paid for what they do, not for how much time they take doing it.”