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Thursday, December 27, 2012

The Boca Raton Executive Club Rings in the New Year with Filmmaker, Grace Shafir-Reiss!

The Boca Raton Executive Club celebrates the New Year with its members and guests Wednesday, January 9th along with filmmaker, Grace Shafir-Reiss, a person who truly understands the value of giving back and is grateful for a second chance at life.

Grace has been featured on Today, CNN, Fox, Good Day NY, Family Circle magazine, and has spoken at Harvard, Columbia, Duke business schools, Leadership Forum, Committee of 200, National Middle Schools Association, and International Women’s Forum. She has also written and produced a kids environmental musical. In 2011 she was awarded the Soroptimist Award for volunteerism.

Grace had a successful small company when she decided it was time to make a difference. Her first documentaries gave girls positive role models, including Sandra Day O’Connor, Rosa Parks, Hillary Clinton, Maya Lin, Diane Sawyer, Beverly Sills, and more than 200 other outstanding women. The documentaries were endorsed by National School Board, Urban League, and Girls Inc. They were followed by Champions on Wheels, the story of world class wheelchair tennis athletes, who twice performed at WCC. Champions on Wheels was shown nationally on PBS and won the Barbara Jordan Award for Best TV Documentary.

A surprise diagnosis helped her change direction. Grateful for life, she decided to make a documentary to alert others that colon cancer, the second greatest killer of both men and women, can be prevented. It is also the top cancer killer of non-smokers. Working with WPBT, Universityof Miami Sylvester, Cleveland Clinic, MD Anderson, Colon Cancer Alliance, and courageous survivors who were willing to share their stories, Surviving Colon Cancer premiered on November 8th and will be offered to PBS stations nationally
in 2013.

Grace and Bob Reiss have five daughters and three young granddaughters.

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