Best-selling author, public speaker, and social media influencer, Nalie Agustin, was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer in 2013.
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Eight years later, Agustin continued to tbrive despite living with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer – and she did it in the most inspiring way.
Driving home from the hospital on that very day, after receiving life-altering news, Agustin recorded a raw, unfiltered and incredibly emotional vlog in her car for her YouTube channel.
“The reason why I’m recording this is [be]cause I know I have a crazy journey ahead of me, and this is day one,” she says to the camera.
Eight years later, Agustin has a growing community of over 29,000 YouTube subscribers and 110,000 Instagram followers who are inspired by her ability to shift perspective, find inspiration in the everyday and remain resilient, brave and courageous despite her cancer diagnosis.
These unique abilities have been instilled in Agustin since childhood.
Growing up, Agustin was raised to be thankful for the little things. With family in the Philippines who didn’t have much, her parents always ensured that she and her two brothers understood the importance of gratitude.
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After completing CEGEP in 2008, Agustin enrolled in communication studies at Concordia University, a program she felt would allow for the exploration of her creativity in several facets of media, including writing and video.
As a self-proclaimed “multi-passionate” individual, this program was perfect for her. However, post-graduation in 2012, Agustin landed a job working in eCommerce where she felt incredibly lost and unfulfilled. She knew it wasn’t the right fit for her.
“I always knew I was meant to do something special,” recalled Agustin as she reflected back on this time in her life.
While a cancer diagnosis may not have been her idea of “special,” raising awareness about breast cancer in young women and inspiring both the cancer and non-cancer community may have been the “special” she was searching for.
It wasn’t long after Agustin graduated from Concordia University that she received her diagnosis: stage 2 breast cancer.
She spent the following year in and out of the hospital receiving the standard treatment, while simultaneously sharing blog posts to “nalie.ca” and vlogs to her YouTube channel.
“As a creative, and being a communications graduate, it just felt therapeutic and right to express myself and write,” she said.
Her blog posts were written in the form of personal diary entries. At the time, Agustin’s goal was to keep her large Filipino family updated with the treatments she was receiving, as well as how she was coping with the challenges she was facing.
What started out as a way to communicate with her close relatives and express herself eventually grew into a large and supportive online community.
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