Sick Days Not Included: Rebecca V. Nellis

Out of Patients with Matthew Zachary

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Rebecca V. Nellis never meant to run a nonprofit. She just never left. Twenty years later, she’s still helming Cancer and Careers after a Craigslist maternity-leave temp job turned into a lifelong mission.

In this 60-minute doubleheader, we cover everything from theater nerdom and improv rules for surviving bureaucracy, to hanging up on Jon Bon Jovi, to navigating cancer while working—or working while surviving cancer. Same thing.

Rebecca’s path is part Second City, part Prague hostel, part Upper East Side grant writer, and somehow all of that makes perfect sense. She breaks down how theater kids become nonprofit lifers, how “sample sale feminism” helped shape a cancer rights org, and how you know when the work is finally worth staying for.

Also: Cleavon Little. Tap Dance Kid. 42 countries. And one extremely awkward moment involving a room full of women’s handbags and one very confused Matthew.

If you’ve ever had to hide your diagnosis to keep a job—or wanted to burn the whole HR system down—this one's for you.

RELATED LINKS

• Cancer and Careers
• Rebecca Nellis on LinkedIn
• 2024 Cancer and Careers Research Report
• Working with Cancer Pledge (Publicis)
• CEW Foundation
• I'm Not Rappaport – Broadway Info

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