Meet a Nasty Woman: 5 Questions with Sagine Archer
Meet Sagine Archer. Sagine is a mother, breast cancer survivor, model, fashionista, entrepreneur, marketing maven, and champion for women. Sagine is also the Nasty Woman on our Represent Red Umpqua Valley Syrah. Sagine is a board member of Makeovers that Matter, an organization that is is dedicated to supporting economically disadvantaged women, female veterans, and our military caregivers with the tools and training they need to create a makeover from the inside out. Their mission is to supply these women with the right tools to re-enter the workforce. Sagine found her inner activist after undergoing 18 rounds of chemotherapy, a double-mastectomy, and facing her own mortality in her thirties as the parent of a young child. Learn more about Sagine and how she's not wasting a single minute in our interview with her here.
What makes you a Nasty Woman?
I am a woman, fierce and fearless. I am a survivor and thriver. I am a mother, an entrepreneur, a fashionista, and a lover of life.
Share an experience that shaped your views or helped get you involved in activism.
My activism is as a woman and a breast cancer survivor. Here’s what’s amazing. Activism doesn’t have to be on a billion people scale. It can be going out of your way to be kind, taking a stance, helping other people. As a breast cancer survivor, without meaning to, I became a mentor to women who were experiencing what I went through. I started to help women find a voice in the process. I recognized that I wanted to empower women and help women stay women when they’re going through this stuff.
What I mean by helping women stay women is that breast cancer can strip away so much of what makes women feel like women. I used to be a model and how you look is THE MOST important thing. I lived in Miami. I moved to California and I get diagnosed with breast cancer. I had to do chemo, and I'm thinking "Am I going to lose my hair?!"
I have this huge mane of curly locks and I'm hysterical because I'm going to lose my breasts and my hair, these two things that make me feel like a woman and feel beautiful. I finally had to decide that it is what it is, its hair, it grows back. My diagnosis and prognosis were pretty positive because the cancer was detected early. So I had to let go of my hair and my breasts.
On the other side of cancer, I knew I could help women going through this. As a woman and breast cancer survivor, I know what you need. I've created a line of products* that help women go through the process that makes them feel better and look better. Breast recovery products, cancer recovery products, all the products that are out there now, nothing works right or looks right. Putting on a dress is a big deal after a double mastectomy, and I wanted to find a way to help women look good and feel good. Just because you are going through this thing, it shouldn’t bleed into everything. You want to feel feminine and normal and beautiful, and there’s no way to mask what is going on. As women, we have to stand up for each other. When women get together there’s nothing we can’t do.
What advice do you have for people who want to help enact change and push progress but don’t know how to get involved?
Find what you're passionate about. Google that cause and look for organizations. Give them a call, go and meet with them, see how you can volunteer. People think you have to do big things to make a difference. You can do little things and make a difference one little step at a time.
If you could look into the future, 10 years from now, and see that real progress has been made, what does that look like to you?
I’m an African-American women so racial equality and justice and equal pay for women would be real progress. Also on my list are a cure for cancer, brotherly love, and people just caring for one another. There is so much hate going around and I’d love to see people embrace one another with love and kindness. That would be a beautiful future for our children.
Share with us a wine favorite. It could be your favorite wine, a favorite moment or memory with wine, or a favorite pairing.
I loooooove Chardonnay and I love it with this Dutch cheese called Robusto. It's sort of nutty and Parmesan-like – that mix is everything.
Learn more:
*Sagine's products are patent-pending and in development. We look forward to sharing them with you when they are available. If you are a breast cancer survivor or are currently undergoing treatment and would like to learn more, please contact us.
You can also help support Makeovers that Matter. When a woman who has experienced homelessness and/or abuse seeks to rejoin the workforce, she often needs more than assistance in developing resume-writing and interview skills. She needs to be equipped with healthy self-esteem and an appearance that reflects inner confidence. To learn more and get involved, visit Makeovers that Matter.