We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Siobhan St. John a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Siobhan, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?
At the age of 18 months old I was diagnosed with Rhabdomyosarcoma, a form of cancer. From the age of 10 until 22 years old, I would be in and out of hospitals correcting what cancer treatment did to my body. At the age of 22 years, well after remission, I had a hysterectomy due to the irreversible damage from chemotherapy and radiation. My parents did the best job they could do with the information given to them, and throughout my treatment as an infant and toddler, they allowed me to still be a kid. I believe it was their way of protecting my heart from the callous I could have developed as a child from my treatment. I attribute my resilience from childhood into adulthood to my parents. My mother always helped me see the glass as half full rather than half empty. We can choose to focus on what we lose in life, or we can choose to focus on all that we gain and learn from situations. I’m grateful they instilled a spirit of resilience and perseverance in me.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
Currently I am in my 10th season as the Assistant Cheerleading Coach at The Ohio State University and I also help lead our DE&I efforts. I have been a coach for the last 22 years and love working with student-athletes. I am the author of the book titled: Scars Left to Heal, which is my personal memoir about perseverance and acceptance (www.siobhanstjohn.com) and a former dancer and captain for the Brooklyn Nets Dance Team, where I danced for 8 seasons. Besides coaching I enjoy motivational speaking and moderating events.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
The three qualities that have been the most impactful in my journey would be resilience, perseverance, and compassion. These three qualities have helped shape who I am and how I navigate and bounce back from difficulties in life. What you focus on is what you feed, so my advice to those on their own journey is to feed the greatness you want and leave the rest where it is. That’s how you build resilience. You focus on what you have and keep building what you want.
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
I am looking for folks who want to partner with me on speaking engagements. I want to give back to others and help them grow through what they are going through. There is light at the end of the tunnel and I want to make sure others can see it, in order to keep walking their own path of growth and discovery.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.siobhanstjohn.com
- Instagram: sio711
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/sstjohn11
