Two Chandler women are creating spaces where breast cancer survivors can connect, celebrate themselves and each other, and talk openly about an experience that can be difficult to put into words.
For Joey Jamesley, the mission is personal. A breast cancer survivor, she knows how quickly a diagnosis can become the lens through which people see you—and how important it is to remember that there is a whole person beyond it.
For Dana Dion, the connection comes through her work as a paramedical tattoo artist specializing in realistic restoration. She works with women who have experienced physical changes and helps them feel more comfortable in their own skin.
Their paths are different, but their message is the same: A diagnosis may be part of a woman's story, but it doesn't define who she is.
More Than a Diagnosis
Breast cancer can turn life into a series of appointments, decisions, and treatments. But throughout all of that, there is still a woman who wants to laugh, travel, go to dinner, work, dance, have fun, and occasionally forget about cancer altogether.
She is still a mother, daughter, wife, friend, professional, and woman with a life that extends far beyond her medical history.
Jamesley was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2023, on her 42nd birthday.
The experience changed her perspective in ways she never expected, but it also reinforced something she believes is important for other women to hear.
“Cancer doesn't get to be the most interesting thing about me,” Jamesley says. “It's something I went through. It's part of my story. But it isn't all of my story.”
That idea has become central to the work she and Dion are creating.
Their vision isn't about minimizing the experience of breast cancer. It's about making room for everything that exists alongside it: friendship, laughter, confidence, beauty, conversation, and simply being yourself.
“We believe women should be able to talk about the hard stuff, laugh, cry, feel feminine, feel unsure, celebrate, and just be where they are in their journey,” Jamesley says.
Dion understands that perspective through her work with women following their breast cancer experience.
“I’m usually meeting these women after they’ve already been through so much,” she says. “I get to be part of one of the final pieces. There is something incredibly special about watching a woman look in the mirror and feel a little more like herself again.”
Over time, Dion realized the work was about more than the artistry. It was about connection, trust, and helping women feel confident as they move forward.
That shared understanding brought her and Jamesley together.
Jamesley has lived the experience. Dion has spent years listening to the women navigating it. Together, they want to create opportunities for women to connect without having to explain every part of their story.
Celebrating Women
That philosophy is becoming tangible through a series of events the women are creating for breast cancer survivors in Chandler and beyond.
The first is a large photography experience planned for October, inspired by HER Unfiltered, a photo experience created by Jamesley that featured Dion as one of its models.
The concept is simple: Celebrate women at every stage of their breast cancer journey.
The event will bring together women from Chandler and beyond for an experience centered on confidence, connection, and community. Participants will have the opportunity to be photographed, meet other women, and celebrate themselves exactly as they are.
For Jamesley, photography offers another way to change the conversation.
What if women could look at photographs of themselves and simply see themselves? What if they could meet someone who understood without needing a long explanation?
Those are the moments she and Dion hope to create.
Finding Your People
The second part of their vision is a larger retreat designed to bring women together to connect, share experiences, discover resources, and build relationships.
There will be opportunities for education and information, but just as importantly, there will be room for conversation, laughter, rest, and friendship.
Because sometimes the most valuable thing can be finding someone who simply understands.
Ultimately, Jamesley and Dion aren't trying to tell women how they should feel about their experience. They are creating opportunities for women to show up as themselves—however that looks and wherever they are in their journey.
A diagnosis can be part of someone's story without becoming the whole story.
For Jamesley and Dion, the next chapter is about connection, confidence, friendship, and celebrating women.
Dana Dion, Instagram: @areolaartistry_ ; Joey Jamesley, Instagram: @life.got.me.like
"There is something incredibly special about watching a woman look in the mirror and feel a little more like herself again.”
“We believe women should be able to talk about the hard stuff, laugh, cry, feel feminine, feel unsure, celebrate, and just be where they are in their journey.”