Women of Excellence Publisher's Award Winner, Queen Stewart

Create Urgency
May 5
2 min read

A diagnosis of breast cancer is, of course, life changing. But for Queen Stewart, the most significant changes after her diagnosis are those she made for herself – and then shared with others. “I did an Instagram post when I was leaving chemo,” she says. “In the post, I’m like, ‘If you guys see me posting poetry, or if I’m singing – I’m going to do things that make me happy now.’ I thought to myself, ‘What would you like to do?’ and then I just started to do a lot of cool things.”

Queen was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer the day before her 36th birthday. At the time, she was an attorney who had just started her own law practice and was married with 2 young daughters. She underwent grueling treatment for almost a year and is now cancer-free.

Today she continues to live the life she created during treatment: one that is energized, full and happy. Through her new brand, Create Urgency, Queen has been essentially teaching, encouraging and supporting people to chase joy. And she’s leading by example. Since her diagnosis, Queen has recorded an original song, built a stand-up comedy career, made a documentary about her movement to create urgency and built her own business. She hosts meet-ups, organizes retreats and shares her experiences of creating urgency.

“I asked a room of people recently, ‘When was the last time you felt full of joy?’” she says. “That stumped people. But once you have joy, it’s different. There’s gratitude. And that doesn’t mean people don’t get frustrated or angry or stressed, because I do, but I don’t stay in those places very long.”

Queen’s documentary, “Sense of Urgency,” has been shown at a number of film festivals and won Best Documentary at Queen City film festival. And now, she’s a Woman of Excellence.

“Even with this honor, Women of Excellence, when it’s over, I can’t forget about it or put it in a box,” she says. “I have to take it in, think about the moments and the memories and hold onto them. Because it’s easy to just put it down. I think it’s healthy to bask in everything you do.”