Meet Virginia Carnesale, the Founder and CEO of Stage, a shopping destination, resource, and community designed to empower breast cancer patients and their supporters.
After a demanding 20-year career in the fashion and beauty industry, a cancer diagnosis, and the loss of a parent to cancer, Virginia felt compelled to shift toward a more purpose-driven endeavor. Throughout her own battle with breast cancer, she realized the crucial need for comprehensive support and information beyond the pink ribbons and awareness campaigns that dominate each October. As a result, Virginia launched Stage to provide the resources, community, and stylish solutions that she found lacking during her own treatment. Stage’s mission is deeply rooted in giving back, with proceeds supporting research and organizations that aid patients and survivors through every stage of their journey.
We had the privilege of interviewing Virginia, delving into her background, the unique challenges Stage addresses, and her advice for aspiring entrepreneurs.
Tell us the story behind your company’s founding. How and why did you start working on Stage?
In 2018, I took a break from a demanding 20-year marketing and merchandising career in the fashion and beauty industry. That year, I lost a parent to cancer and was diagnosed with breast cancer myself. To say it was a turning point for me is an understatement. I had already been thinking about pivoting from a glamorous luxury retail career to something more purpose-driven. I just didn’t know yet what that would be.
My experience as a patient navigating multiple surgeries, chemo, radiation, side effects, survivorship, and the loneliness of it all inspired me to create Stage—a single destination for stylish solutions, advice from survivors, and community. I wanted to empower others with knowledge, fashion, and sisterhood to make the journey a little less intimidating and a lot more human, as breast cancer can impact your self-esteem to its very core.
With my background leading large marketing and creative teams as a buyer and brand strategist, it felt like it was destined for me to launch a platform aimed to support others through this journey. There’s so much to know that you just don’t hear in the doctor’s office.
To get the business up and running, I called on my network, met with advisors who had built marketplaces, put together the business plan, raised friends and family capital, assembled a team, and put my plan in motion.
What problem does Stage solve?
A breast cancer diagnosis can be extremely overwhelming. It's a lot of trial and error to find the items you need to support your ever-evolving journey. Such items can include bras, headwraps, cozy loungewear, and swimwear to cover scars and shield sunshine, in addition to soothing skin balms, sulfate-free shampoos, and non-toxic kitchen essentials to fuel a cancer-fighting lifestyle.
Figuring out what to shop for can be stressful and expensive. I learned that firsthand. During chemo, I remember spending hours scouring websites for cute hair accessories and headwraps as the inevitable “big shed” was starting to occur. In a panic, I picked out a range of solutions from $5 turbans to more pricey headwraps, headbands, bucket hats, baseball caps, and beautiful head scarves up to $250! I didn’t really know what I was doing. I spent $850 in one afternoon and ended up returning most of it because it was all wrong.
"My experience as a patient navigating multiple surgeries, chemo, radiation, side effects, survivorship, and the loneliness of it all inspired me to create Stage—a single destination for stylish solutions, advice from survivors, and community."
Because of my years of experience working in e-commerce, it felt natural to me to put together a site with a range of chic options all in one place. This was my way of paying it forward for other women walking this rocky road.
Also, I was fortunate to receive many gifts from well-intended friends. But oftentimes their gifts weren’t useful or contained ingredients I was avoiding. With this in mind, I was inspired to create a selection of gifts that would be helpful and make its recipient feel special, including anti-nausea bracelets, empowerment jewelry, luxe pajamas, and natural healing skin balms. We took this a step further by adding a gift registry feature to our site so that well-intentioned friends and family can purchase items personally selected by the people they so thoughtfully want to support.
What makes Stage different from other similar marketplaces in the industry?
While there are other cancer marketplaces out there, at Stage, we are solely focused on women. And our curation is meant to equip her with solutions for a complete cancer-fighting lifestyle. We’re not just focused on one category or those in active treatment. We think about her needs in survivorship too: activewear, clean beauty, swimwear, jewelry, stylish lunch box handbags, and non-toxic kitchen supplies are good examples of this. We curate our assortments from both mainstream and survivor-led brands so she can feel supported, self-confident and, yes, even stylish in one of the most difficult chapters of her life.
Also, we give back a percentage of sales to our nonprofit partners 365 days a year. We’ve intentionally partnered with organizations offering services to patients in the areas of fertility preservation, free integrative wellness therapies, and financial aid because the out-of-pocket costs of treatment and recovery are steep and ongoing. Yes, we also donate to research with sales of selected items. However, we feel deeply motivated to support the patient experience, as this is personal to us.
Lastly, we work hard to ensure our blog content is actionable and inspirational. We share treatment tips, lifestyle hacks, and medically-vetted advice from survivors and medical experts. I want readers to walk away having learned something about self-care, advocacy, or ways to support a friend.
Did you always know that you wanted to be an entrepreneur?
Not exactly. I grew up in a family of entrepreneurs, but I chose the corporate route and stayed the course for 24 years. As the years went on and I grew tired of office politics and pre-pandemic work expectations, entrepreneurship became more enticing to me. In that respect, I’d say my cancer journey was a gift. It gave me the time and space to come up with an idea for a company where I could find deep purpose and meaning while also guarding my health and growing my personal and professional networks in ways I never would have imagined.
What’s one thing you wish you had known before starting Stage?
How much harder it is to raise institutional capital as a solo founder. In hindsight, taking on a co-founder earlier would have alleviated some of the pressure I felt to do it all. I think this would have enabled the business to grow even more quickly.
Have you felt like giving up? What made you persist?
Yes, many times. Especially because you need a lot of capital for this type of business to scale, which hasn’t been easy to unlock in our current economic environment. But the feedback from patients and supporters telling me how much my site has helped them and their loved ones keeps me going.
What would you tell your younger self if you were to start your entrepreneurial journey all over again?
Market conditions can change quickly, making it infinitely more expensive and challenging to drive product-market fit. Take your time to build your business as a side hustle until you have the proof points. Find a co-founder to compliment your skills and be in the trenches with you, then raise outside capital to scale the business.
What’s next for you and Stage?
We’re always looking for new product opportunities and will be expanding our content and curation to other forms of female cancers in the very near future.
