Courtesy of Ola Hawatmeh
Meet Ola Hawatmeh.
She's a New York native, current St. Louis resident, fashion designer, stylist, and cancer survivor. (You might also recognize her from the fashion segments she hosted on FOX 2 for three years.) Now, Hawatmeh's gearing up to produce Ola Style Survivor Fashion Week with the Komen foundation, an event inspired by her recent breast cancer diagnosis.
"I reached out to Komen right away," she says. With a laugh, she adds, "It’s funny, because they’re like, 'When did you get diagnosed?' and I said, 'Last week.' And they said, 'God bless you.'"
After beating a previous bout of thyroid cancer, Hawatmeh concluded that "there’s a reason why I got it this time around." With her first diagnosis, at age 29, she says she was ashamed to reveal her illness, even as it motivated her to create her nonprofit styling service Makeover for a Cause.
"It’s this look of pity and never wanting anyone to look at me that way," Hawatmeh says. "It’s kind of selfish, and that’s why I decided to do this."
"This" being her survivor fashion week. Hawatmeh will fly between three cities—St. Louis, Orange County, and Houston—in three days, starting October 20, for their respective fashion shows she'll produce. With help from Komen, each event will feature 20 to 25 models, all breast cancer survivors, who will showcase Hawatmeh's all-pink collections from her fashion line, Ola Style. The week before, Hawatmeh will prep the models with runway lessons and fittings.
"I want anyone who's gone through what I'm going through to feel beautiful for a day," she says, adding: "If I’m placed in this position as a role model or public figure, I need to be more open and help other women... They have hope runs and 5K runs, but they don’t have fashion week. This is what I do. I want to make a positive impact for as many women who are in my shoes."
So far, Hawatmeh has organized the events on her own, but she hopes some fashion industry contacts she's worked with over the years will come aboard. Along with creating personal styling service Mom Me Makeover and nonprofit Makeover for a Cause, Hawatmeh has served as a stylist in the entertainment industry on Showtime series Ray Donovan and other film sets.
Funds from the fashion week will go back to Komen.
As for Hawatmeh's health, she underwent surgery on February 15 and is finally regaining energy and feeling back like herself. She says she's now cancer free and grateful for it.
"I feel like something good will come out of this," she adds of her second cancer diagnosis. "There has to be."
