Rare spotlight on: Nat Clancy

From organising weddings, movie premieres and fashion shows, to using her experience and expertise to raise funds and awareness for Australians impacted by a rare or complex cancer, we are extremely lucky to have an events superstar like Nat Clancy on our team delivering major productions like the Kosi Challenge, CanForum and our Halloween Ball.

Why does she do it? For the patients and families that Rare Cancers Australia (RCA) supports.

“Hearing their stories and struggles really hits home for me – whether it’s financial, they are having issues with access to medicine, or they feel lost navigating the complicated health system. It can be truly difficult for families affected by rare or complex cancer, and we don’t always have the answers, but I believe we make a difference,” shared Nat.

Being a self-confessed “perfectionist” and “control freak” Nat runs a tight ship as our Events and Fundraising Manager, but with all the stress that delivering major events brings, she never loses her cool.

“I try not to get stressed as we approach our events, it doesn’t accomplish anything and it makes people lose confidence. What keeps me calm is knowing how the RCA team works so well together,” said Nat.

“The team at RCA are amazing. They are all highly skilled at what they do. Each member has a vital role to play at each event, both on the day and in the lead up to, and it’s because we trust and respect each other that we continue to deliver. We manage to have fun and always have a laugh too!”

In addition to delivering RCA’s most iconic events, many of you will know Nat as the friendly face – or voice on the other end of the phone – who provides support to those who fundraise in the community to help their loved one with cancer, or for people who wish to fundraise for RCA.

This year, she has also been using her expertise to help with RCA’s Pinnacle program - a peer-to-peer program that aims to to build a network of support for patient organisations across the Asia Pacific region, connecting groups online and in-person so that they can share knowledge, experiences, and learn from each other to help the patients they support locally.

“This has been a wonderful experience, getting to meet and mentor patient organisations in Asia,” explained Nat.

“I had the honour of travelling to Singapore in May this year with our Pinnacle Lead, Christina Cho to run a session on Events and Fundraising. It was a truly humbling and emotional experience, a career highlight for me to meet other people from patient organisations across Asia, many of who were volunteers without any resources, trying to make a difference in their own country for their patients. I felt privileged to be able to share my experiences, and to also have the opportunity to learn from them.”