Sophia

Sophia has a habit of meeting hard things with the same question: Okay, now what?

That mindset was shaped in the mountains. Raised in an active family, she attended college in a rural area where she learned to hike, backpack, climb and embrace winter sports. Since then, she has run ultras, camped solo and sought out remote places that require her to stay calm, assess the situation and make the next decision—often without cell service. In cybersecurity, she’s drawn to a similar challenge: an evolving puzzle that rewards curiosity and problem-solving.

Cancer gave those skills a different place to land. During chemotherapy, Sophia borrowed from endurance training, focusing on consistency rather than perfection. Her approach was to “stack a bunch of pretty good days,” rather than let one imperfect day derail the rest.

She brings that same persistence to navigating the medical system, asking what can change when a path feels blocked and advocating for what she needs. It may also explain why traditional pink breast-cancer messaging doesn’t resonate with her—it can feel too soft for an experience that has been anything but.

Treatment has temporarily pulled Sophia away from some of the physical things she loves, but not from herself. She’s been screen-printing, crafting and helping organize Fog Town Hoedown, a queer country-western dance conference in San Francisco centered on representation and featuring inclusive chest-health education.

A bad foot once made her a stronger climber. Treatment made room for an “insane number of crafts.” A blocked path simply means finding another one.

Sophia calls it blooming where you’re planted—but not delicately.

“I’m picturing myself like some sort of thistle,” she says. “Some sort of aggressive little flower.”