`No bad days': Sherry B. Williams excels as a Mary Kay sales pro while battling breast cancer. (Guts & Glory).

Sherry B. Williams never has a bad day. "I have good days and not-so-good days," she explains. "You know how some people say you have bad days? Well, you only have bad days when you don't wake up."

Williams, an independent senior sales director for Mary Kay Cosmetics in Phoenix, is one of thousands of black women and a small percentage of black men who will battle breast cancer every year. However, despite being diagnosed with the disease not once, not twice, but three times since 1999, she maintains both a positive outlook and her reputation as an exceptional entrepreneur and sales performer for Mary Kay.

Williams was introduced to Mary Kay by a fellow member of the National Black M.B.A. Association in 1995. "Then, I did not know that people could work full-time and make money selling lipstick," she recalls. "My first full year as a sales director in Mary Kay in 1997, I made $80,000."

Before joining Mary Kay, Williams was a branch sales manager for a regional bank in the Chicago area. She says that after winning her first car she quit her job at the bank because it was stressing her out. Williams has been with Mary Kay for six years and has been a director for five. She says, "My job is to help women become successful entrepreneurs."

Williams, who now lives in Phoenix, does her job well: She has earned five cars--two Grand Prixs, two Grand AMs, and the coveted pink Cadillac--as well as 12 karats in diamond jewelry. Sales directors can make anywhere between $30,000 and $200,000 or more per year. "I wasn't trying to win [awards initially]," says Williams, "I was just trying to replace my corporate income."

Williams says that the first time she was diagnosed with breast cancer in March of 1999, she underwent chemo and radiation therapy on her right side. "The [doctors] told me I was so healthy that I could do chemotherapy and radiation at the same time. I said, `Well if I am that healthy then why do I have breast cancer?'"

In December of 1999, Williams was diagnosed with breast cancer a second time. "After the biopsy," Williams recalls, "[my surgeon] said, `I don't have good news for you.' She said that they would have to remove both breasts followed by reconstructive surgery. I had been strong, but I really broke down. I tried to call my family and closest friends and no one was home. Finally both of my girlfriends called me back and calmed me down."

After her second diagnosis, Williams spoke to an audience of 200 people at a Mary Kay directors' meeting in Elmhurst, Illinois, about breast cancer. She told them not to feel sorry for her and that God was watching over her. While she was out of the room, the directors secretly collected $2,000 for her. One of those women, Judi Tapella, told Williams that the directors would take care of her sales unit, do her newsletters, and come by her house and bring food so she could focus on her surgery and recovery.

"We felt really strongly about helping her," Tapella explains. "I admire her so much because she is still working and still making sales and building her team. She has a lot of fortitude."

"They were a godsend," says Williams of her colleagues. "They are my Mary Kay angels."

Williams was diagnosed for the third time in February of 2002. "I found a lump on my left side," she says. "My plastic surgeon thought it was scar tissue. They did a biopsy and they didn't think it was malignant. When they found out it was and in stage one, my surgeon was more upset then I was. I had a lumpectomy again."

One of her biggest challenges is getting women, especially educated, middle- and upper-class black women, to understand that it is better to know than not to know. Williams also says that many women have misconceptions about cancer and how you can get it, noting that, before she got sick, she felt that she did not fit the typical profile of a woman at high risk of developing breast cancer. Williams played team tennis, was learning golf, and had become an avid cyclist. She even participated in Black Enterprise's annual golf and tennis tournament. "I have never smoked, don't drink, and have never done drugs."

Williams' mother was diagnosed last summer with breast cancer at 62. Her maternal aunt was diagnosed at 64 later that fall, and her daughter (Williams' first cousin) was diagnosed in January 2002. "I went from no family history of breast cancer to major family history," she says.

Williams says that her business survived because of its mobility. "As long as I have a phone, access to mail, and the Internet, I can do business from home." She also credits the fact that many of her customers are regular buyers. She says, "Two of my questions to entrepreneurs and business owners is: Are you prepared financially and mentally? Do you have the right insurance? One of the issues you must face as an entrepreneur is what will you do or what will become of your business if you get sick."

Joyce Z. Grady, independent national sales director for Mary Kay in Davidsonville, Maryland, says, "Sherry has shown us encouragement by continuing to do all of this while fighting the disease. She is determined to make things happen in her life and by her having that determination, she wipes out all of the excuses for anyone to not be able to run their business."

Williams is currently writing a book to help women, and black women specifically, to understand more about breast cancer. "I am thankful that I have a disease that, if detected early, has a cure." she asserts. "I am grateful to be alive and strong enough to fight it again and again. God is here as my partner and He has given me the strength to fight this off."

RELATED ARTICLE: Join the Fight.

The fact that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month should have particular significance to African Americans. Approximately 102 out of 100,000 black women will develop breast cancer and for about one of every three of those women, it will be fatal. And while the disease is more commonly diagnosed among women, men are also at risk.

While the risks can be significantly reduced by paying close attention to diet and lifestyle choices (such as limiting the intake of total calories and calories from fat and limiting alcohol intake), the first step in beating the odds is education. Here is a list of online resources that can help you get the knowledge that could save your life or the life of someone important to you.

* Breast Cancer National Quality Improvement Project (www.natbreastcancer.com)

* National Alliance of Breast Cancer Organizations (www.nabco.org)

* The Breast Cancer Site (www.thebreastcancersite.com)

* The National Breast Cancer Coalition (www.natlbcc.org)

* American Cancer Society (www.cancer.org)

* The Breast Cancer Dictionary (www.jsonline.com/alive/news/cancer/terms.asp)

* The Cancer Survivors Network (www.acscsn.org)

* BreastBiopsy.com (www.breastbiopsy.com)