After undergoing treatment for breast cancer, Clea Shearer of The Home Edit has started the Clea Shearer Breast Cancer Fund to support cancer research, raise awareness for the importance of early detection and to give back to the medical field that saved her life.
Co-founder of the home organization service company, The Home Edit, Shearer will be honored by the Housewares Charity Foundation (HCF) as Humanitarian of the Year. She will be among the honorees at the HCF Gala on March 6 at the Four Seasons Hotel Chicago during The Inspired Home Show 2023. The Breast Cancer Research Foundation is among the organizations supported by HCF.
Shearer grew up in Los Angeles before moving to Nashville with her husband and two children in May of 2015. That year, after being introduced through a mutual friend, Shearer met for lunch with Joanna Teplin, and The Home Edit was born. “We never actually asked each other if we wanted to go into business together. Our conversation dictated it. It was what was going to happen. And we started The Home Edit that very same day,” Shearer said.
Since that fateful meeting, The Home Edit home organizing services have expanded into more than five markets across the U.S.; Shearer and Teplin have written two New York Times bestsellers, “The Home Edit” and “The Home Edit Life”; have starred in and executive produced the Emmy-nominated Netflix show, Get Organized with The Home Edit and have a line of organizational products sold in over 25 countries. Hello Sunshine, a division of Candle Media, acquired The Home Edit in the Spring of 2022.
While things were going well for The Home Edit, in March of 2022, Shearer was diagnosed with breast cancer. She had felt a lump during a self-exam in the summer of 2021 but pushed it to the back of her mind until she felt it again in February of 2022. Her OB-GYN was unable to see her due to a booked schedule, so she reached out to her primary care doctor who Shearer says “jumped into action” and assembled a team at Vanderbilt for her. They moved quickly and she had a double mastectomy in April which revealed the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes. She is a big proponent of self-examination, self-preservation and advocation for your health, stemming from the fact that she feels she could have done more sooner. “Even when I found something, no one took me seriously, and when it finally was detected, it still was worse than anticipated. All of that could have been prevented had I acted sooner, had I been listened to sooner, had I gotten screened sooner.” Shearer is now cancer-free, meaning the doctors say there is no evidence of disease. She is currently on a new regimen to help prevent cancer from coming back.
Shearer has become involved with the V Foundation, starting the Clea Shearer Breast Cancer Research Fund. “They find the most cutting-edge research and invite the top serving cancer institutes across the country to submit their research and learning through the doctors that are conducting it,” she said. “They allocate funds in a different way than, I think, most organizations, which I am really excited about. And 100% goes towards the research.” Shearer hopes that they will be able to allocate some funds to Vanderbilt, the cancer institute she credits with saving her life and is passionate about giving back. “It’s a real honor to be able to raise money for people who have devoted their whole lives to making sure people like me see all of our birthdays and live to see our children grow up. It’s one of the honors of my lifetime.”
As last year’s business efforts were truncated because of her cancer, Shearer said 2023 will be a big year for The Home Edit, “We’re building on all the pillars of the company that we already have and we’re pouring gasoline on it.” In the media space, they have their books and TV show and are still in “major podcast mode.” They also plan to have live events and experiential moments that they were not able to do in 2022 because Shearer was immunocompromised. Though she couldn’t get into specifics, Shearer revealed they have more product lines, extensions and partnerships that The Home Edit will announce soon. She said she thinks everyone will be thrilled, “We’re going to be out there doing the best of the best and I’m really, really excited for all of the partners we are going to be working with and the things we will be announcing.”
When asked what it means to her to be honored by the Housewares Charity Foundation, Shearer spoke very highly of the housewares industry. “Everything touching the home is how we have a business,” she said. “The Home Edit has given me everything in the adult phase of my life where this company has allowed us to flourish and do things that we never thought possible. To be appreciated, welcomed and supported by the industry that we’re a part of is really humbling as is to be recognized as a broader piece of this incredible industry that’s been around for so long and has so much lengthy value.”
The other honorees include Daniel Leppo, executive vice president and GMM, Menswear, Kids, The Home Store and Cosmetics at Bloomingdale’s; and William Endres, president of Select Brands.
Click here for more information about the Housewares Charity Foundation and to purchase tickets to the 2023 HCF Gala.
