By Mia Khatib
mia.khatib@triangletribune.com
RALEIGH — Terry W. Spicer holds many titles – from publicist and mentor to nonprofit founder and cancer advocate. The Tribune is adding one more to her repertoire: 2024 Triangle Tribune Newsmaker of the Year.
No one is committed to community like her.
Spicer is the founder and executive director of The Sisters Inspiring Sisters, Incorporated, an organization that provides transportation assistance to cancer patients, sparked from her own experience driving her best friend, Gwen, to medical appointments during the last years of her life.
Through its 11 years of service, The SISI has supported nearly 1,700 cancer patients in all 100 counties of North Carolina, Washington, D.C., and 16 states. A clarion call of theirs is to encourage women to be more proactive with their breast health, and they’ve helped more than 500 women secure mammograms so far.
“I remember one day specifically when a patient navigator from Duke called me — I had to pull over because I started crying — and he said, ‘the work that you are doing Terry is directly helping to save lives,’” Spicer told The Tribune. “It really made me see that this organization’s work was much bigger than just the gas cards.”
Top-ranking medical center Mayo Clinic has appointed Spicer to its Center for Health Equity and Community Engagement Research Women’s Health Advisory Board. Still, she didn’t land Tribune newsmaker of the year for her cancer reach alone.
Spicer also spearheads The SISI Small PEARLS Lead Academy, which provides opportunities to girls ages 7 through high school. The program captures topics like financial literacy, mental health and community service, and provides global exposure through trips to Washington, D.C., and Zoom calls with peers in The Gambia, West Africa.
Appalachian State University freshman Jadyah Dancy told The Tribune she struggled with anxiety and didn’t have a community of young girls who looked like her until she joined The SISI’s program at age 9.
“I was doubting myself a lot, and being a Black girl growing up in a predominantly white area, there were other things in play from society that made me feel bad about myself,” she said. “But one thing that The SISI Small PEARLS have always done, and will always do, is make sure that you know that you are fearfully and wonderfully made.”
Spicer is more than a mentor to Dancy, she’s a huge part of her life and has created so many core memories for her — gifting her a Rosa Parks Barbie Doll for her high school graduation, giving her the opportunity to meet former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch and providing her an outlet to sing in the spotlight.
“You are always one of [Spicer’s] priorities, and you can tell that,” Dancy said. “There’s so much love there.”
Rhonda Hicks said Spicer similarly empowers the Momma PEARLS. She and her daughter are both featured in Spicer’s book, “The Small PEARL in Every Girl.”
“The fact that she was able to place so many people that showed the girls that they could do anything, that was really what stood out for me,” Hicks said. “Terry is one that, whenever there’s an opportunity, she’s going to seek you out to share that opportunity and uplift others… that’s just what she does.”
The SISI is still 100% volunteer-based, but that hasn’t stopped Spicer from dreaming big and planning ahead. Next year’s Small PEARLS Lead Conference in March will be in partnership with Wake County Public Schools. Spicer said they aim to expand their transportation assistance to airlines and food vouchers, as well as charter Small PEARLS chapters in other states and even internationally in The Gambia, West Africa.
“I can really see somewhere in the future a full blown school. Those are goals of mine that I’m speaking to life,” Spicer said. “It was very clear that God gifted that experience of my life with Gwen to become the catalyst for this work.”
Mia Khatib is a freelance journalist covering affordable housing for The Tribune.
