In the first quarter of the year, Alpharetta’s Classic Blinds and Shutters welcomed its newest team member, Zack Zare. After years of learning the family business firsthand and earning a degree in business from the University of Alabama, Zack was more than ready to join the team. "Joining the family business means I get to carry forward my parents’ legacy and decades of hard work," Zack shares. "Being their only child, I feel a deep responsibility to enrich what they've built and continue taking care of the past, present, and future Classic family members and partners."
But for Zack, the transition from business student to businessman wasn’t nearly as daunting as another challenge he was facing.
"My journey with testicular cancer started at the end of my final semester of college," he recalls. "It was a lengthy process to get diagnosed because my doctors were in Georgia while I was still attending the University of Alabama." Just months before his graduation, Zack’s entire world shifted.
"Once I was properly diagnosed, everything moved fast, and the emotions were overwhelming," he says. "I had surgery to remove the source of the cancer less than a week after my diagnosis, and because it was spreading so quickly, I had to start chemotherapy two to three weeks ahead of schedule. Chemo was as grueling and hard as you might imagine—honestly, probably worse than I expected. But keeping a positive mindset and having such widespread support made it a little easier to get through."
Much like his approach to business, Zack faced his diagnosis with determination and resilience. Over time, he found ways to expand his perspective, transforming an incredibly difficult chapter into a source of strength and advocacy.
We caught up with Zack to learn more about his journey — and how it has shaped his outlook on life, work, and the future.
How has going through testicular cancer treatment and recovery shaped your outlook on life and work?
Going through chemo broke my body down in a way that I wouldn’t wish on anyone, but I try not to look at it as being all bad. I don’t think I will experience anything in life that will compare to how physically and mentally draining that time was, so I know that in the future I can battle through anything I might face. This applies to both personal life and work. Going through an experience like that made me appreciate life much more than I did before, and also taught me how precious and valuable our time is on Earth with our loved ones.
What inspired you to become an advocate for testicular cancer awareness?
When I was receiving my second round of chemo on week three of the cycle, I had started to really feel the effects of the medicine breaking down my body. My oncology nurse asked if I would want to speak to a man that was in the infusion center getting fluids after finishing chemo months prior and being cancer free. When I spoke to him, he helped ease my mind a little bit about the doubts I had, and really just showed me that this phase of my life would eventually be over, and things would go back to normal. Once I completed all my chemotherapy, my mom had been reached out to by a worried mother of a 25-year-old in Texas that had just been diagnosed with the same type of rare cancer I had. From there I started talking to him, answering any questions or concerns he had, telling him what to expect through his journey, and giving him advice I wish I would have known before I started my journey. It felt very rewarding knowing that I could help someone who was in the same situation I was in just a few months earlier.
As if Zack’s story weren’t inspiring enough, he’s also a passionate car enthusiast and avid golfer. “I’ve always had a big passion for cars because of my dad, and I’ve always been a BMW owner, starting with my first car—a 435i convertible,” he says. “When I was first car shopping, I looked at many brands but ultimately loved how BMWs drove compared to the others.” During college, Zack owned an older-generation M3 and M4, both of which he loved, but after getting rear-ended and having his M4 declared a total loss, he went searching for something new. “I knew I wanted to stick with BMW, so they were my first stop. After driving the new generation M4, I fell in love all over again,” he says. This time, he decided to switch things up. “I had always driven white cars with red interiors, so I thought it would be cool to flip it—red exterior with white interior.”
Over time, he found ways to expand his perspective, transforming an incredibly difficult chapter into a source of strength and advocacy.