RICHMOND, Va. -- For fifteen years, Mandy Tornabene has been a leader at Dominion Energy, serving as a Vice President of the environmental group and now governance, working with the company’s board of directors.
It’s her sincerity in serving others, that has not only propelled her to the top of the corporate world but has defined her role as a mother.
“They don’t care who I am,” Mandy laughs. “They just see Mom!”
With 14-year-old Ana, 11-year-old Hudson, and 8-year-old Cece, love and laughter are ever present in the Tornabene home, where Mandy tries to keep spirits high no matter the circumstances, including during her battle with cancer after the birth of her third child.
“I was diagnosed with a very aggressive form of breast cancer called Triple Negative and had to go through chemotherapy and surgery and radiation,” Mandy says. “That was a 17-month process.”
Three years later, in 2020, Mandy’s husband, Billy, was diagnosed with Colon Cancer. Despite aggressive treatment, Billy died after a two-year battle with the disease in November 2022. He was just 46 years old.
“No child, and I’m going to get sad, deserves to see their parents’ struggle. They just don’t,” Mandy said.
“One of the things you want to do as a parent is provide your child with comfort and stability, and you want to be their safe space, and you want to tell them that everything is going to be ok, and that’s just not realistic.”
In the months that have followed Billy’s death, Mandy has had to navigate a busy life without a loving partner by her side and a doting father to her children. She says the challenges of being a single parent can sometimes feel overwhelming and lonely. She says her children miss their dad every day.
“I think bad things happen to good people. I think awful things happen to many good people,” Mandy said.
“It’s the reason she’s channeling her pain into advocacy, not only for her own family but for other men and women facing a cancer diagnosis. Serving on the board at Massey Cancer Center, she has helped organize the annual Women and Wellness luncheon, one of the organization’s biggest fundraisers for cancer research.
“At the luncheon, when you look around the room and especially when the survivors raise their hands or they stand up and you see how many people are impacted by cancer and are still here,” Mandy said. “I wonder sometimes when I’m in a room like that if you were to ask the same question ten years ago or five years ago or twenty years ago, how many people would be standing.”
Now taking on the Massey Challenge, Mandy is encouraging companies, like her own, to build teams to raise funds for April’s Ukrop’s Monument Avenue 10k, a race celebrating its 25th anniversary, the same year Massey will be recognized for its 50th anniversary.
“Anytime I’m around people talking about fighting cancer, I just get hope,” Mandy said. She says the promise of a brighter future in cancer research, outreach, and advocacy gives her the drive to stay strong for her family and her community.
“Having a true impact on people’s lives or their mother’s life or their daughter’s life or their neighbor’s, or their best friend’s, that’s one of the best ways I can give back and can continue, for me, to attack something that has made a dent in my life.”
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