Today we’d like to introduce you to Casie Shimansky.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
On April 10, 2004 my younger sister Kellie passed away unexpectedly at the age of 18 from unknown causes. She was healthy, athletic, and vibrant – and within a week, she was gone. We essentially lived an episode of House, with no Dr. House coming to save her. To this day, we still don’t know what caused her organs to fail her. But, the day she died was the day this ‘new normal’ started for me. I knew there were two paths I could choose. Quickly, Kellie let me know that one path wasn’t up for discussion. Yes, we were devastated and lost in the thick fog that is grief – but what she really wanted for us was to live out loud. So, that’s the path I started down.
In the wake of her loss, I picked up a camera and started a photography business. I never wanted another family to know the pain of not having a photograph with everyone smiling back at them together. And I knew I wanted to give back to others.
Over the years, I offered photography services to many different organizations – but one stood out above all the rest. In 2011, a friend of a friend was in need of a photographer to capture an upcoming head shaving event that would benefit children’s cancer research. It was the first time I heard about the St. Baldricks Foundation, and I was immediately hooked. What started as photographing one event turned into me leading a team (Team Live Out Loud) in Kellie’s memory and committing to go bald myself — with a catch. They’d have to wait for me to get married first.
Seven years after I made that promise and two days after my husband and I were married – I went bald for the first time on March 24, 2018. I raised $26k that year alone for my 19″ of long, purple hair. I’ve gone on to be a global top fundraiser for the St. Baldricks Foundation and a top 5 female fundraiser. Team Live Out Loud has been a top team two years in a row as well.
March 19, 2022 will mark my 12th year volunteering with St. Baldricks and my 5th year going bald. It will be Team Live Out Loud’s 10th year as a team.
During our first year of fundraising together, my dad (John Shimansky) and then-boyfriend-now-husband (Sean Moody) were the first two to sign up to go bald. They’ve done it every year since. My mom even shaved in 2019, and so many of our friends and family have joined over the years to help us raise over $115k for children’s cancer research. This year one of my best friends, Dana Brotz, will be joining us – she was supposed to shave in 2020, however, our event was canceled once the pandemic started. She’s grown her hair even longer these past two years and now has 24” of hair to donate!
We also hear your two dogs are involved in volunteer work?
Yes, giving back doesn’t stop with St. Baldricks for me. Our two German Shorthaired Pointers (GSP) – Kimbee and Kenobi bring smiles and comfort to so many throughout the community and through their Instagram account – @PawsitivePointers.
Kimbee (7) is a rescue and is now a certified Therapy Dog through the Alliance of Therapy Dogs. We volunteer at the Orlando International Airport monthly as part of the MCO Paw Pilots program to help visitors and employees de-stress. She also regularly visits the Seminole County Dispatch teams with our therapy group, the Zen Dogs Therapy Network, and previously volunteered at Advent Hospital.
Kenobi (3) is still a bit too wild for therapy work but will often make guest appearances when we visit first responders and local events to start her training. She’s also the pup most likely to pop up on camera when I’m in meetings and is a bit of a trouble maker – so funny stories somehow always point to Kenobi.
We’ve heard time and time again how these two have given folks a much-needed dose of laughter or comfort in some really trying times. So, being able to continue giving back to our community with Kimbee and Kenobi has been incredibly rewarding.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It’s been a long journey since the day we lost Kellie, but every step I’ve taken since has been with the goal in showing others that they can walk through the deepest parts of hell – that they can have their hearts be always just a little bit broken – and, yet, life can still be incredibly beautiful.
Some days are easier than others, some days it feels like April 10, 2004 all over again. You never ‘get over’ losing someone, and I think a lot of people believe that’s how grief works. It couldn’t be further from the truth. I’ve just learned how to co-exist with grief. When it shows up, I let it have its moment – but it doesn’t get a spotlight at all times. I try to focus on the positives within every situation and can even be a bit obnoxious with the ‘positive spin’ – although I’m a realist, too. Some things and some days and some situations just suck, and there’s no way around it.
Fundraising is also never something I’d call ‘easy’. In 12 years, I talk about it so frequently that my network KNOWS and is aware about St. Baldricks and why the funds and research are crucial in saving children’s lives as they battle cancer. So, we’ve done the awareness piece – NOW I need people to take action and donate what they can. I’m proud that most of our donations have been in the $5-50 range. It shows that when a lot of people care a whole lot and give what they can – big things happen for these kids and their families.
To me, it isn’t so much about the road being smooth – it’s about the impact we’re having, the change we’re creating, and fighting for those silver linings.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a creative storyteller focusing in content strategy, photography, and writing/editing. I think what sets me apart is that I never truly went to school for any of this, although I took plenty of courses in all these areas, I learned a lot just by tinkering and figuring out what I liked and didn’t like doing.
When it came time to start my career, I looked at what was out there and how these talents fit into certain roles. It was also right around the time that social media marketing was becoming a ‘thing’ – and that’s how I wound up becoming a Social Media Strategist. I still hold true that my background in photography helped me land more than one job in social media. And, eventually, those roles also enabled me to lean on my other talents and use them to enhance the channels, programs, and teams I was a part of.
I’m genuinely proud that I didn’t follow anyone else’s rules or expectations for my own path. My parents never pushed me one way or the other, and they rallied around me with each new ‘thing’ I showed interest in. From an early age, I think I knew that it was okay to try things and, if I didn’t love them, then at the end of that season or trial – I could try something else.
I had so many people tell me over the years that the things I wanted in life wouldn’t happen because I didn’t have a four-year degree, or I didn’t have enough ‘big’ donors to raise $20k and be a top fundraiser for St. Baldrick’s, or that there would always be someone with just an edge over me. I love that I’ve proven them all wrong, time and time again. It’s even sweeter because I did it all my way.
What were you like growing up?
I’d say pretty similar to who I am today. I was always a quiet kid – I think a lot of people default and think quiet kids are ‘shy’ – and it’s not so much shyness as it is a mixture of listening before speaking, absorbing what’s going on around me at that moment, and a healthy dose of being a proud introvert. I always considered myself a geek, and for years that felt like a burden until I met others that were just like me and realized it is absolutely normal to geek out about the things you love and are passionate about. In fact, you SHOULD geek out about those things.
I was always more creative-driven – whether that be through writing stories or creating art and crafting – than I was inclined to feel excited about math, and that still holds pretty true (although now I love the stories numbers and analytics can tell – that might’ve been a way for me to be more excited about numbers in the 90’s). My family has always been big on photos, videos, and stories – so I think that’s something I was just born loving.
And we’re a stubborn bunch in this family, too. Which I think lent itself to much of what we talked about here today – from raising funds for children’s cancer research and sort of ‘defying’ societal norms in being a woman with a beautiful bald head or short, purple hair to, yes, even training two wild German Shorthaired Pointers to become the pups they are today and fighting for those silver linings that help me to live out loud.
Contact Info:
- Email: TheNameIsCasie@gmail.com
- Website: https://www.thenameiscasie.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thenameiscasie/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/GetMarriedGoBald
- Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/thenameiscasie/
- Other: https://www.stbaldricks.org/participants/captaincasie
Image Credits:
Image 2 and 7 – Nate Robinson Image 6 and Featured Image – Ali Sutton All others are family photos
