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In Conversation: Tristin Baxter, PurpleStride and Community Chair, Puget Sound Affiliate
Puget Sound PurpleStride and Community Chair Tristin Baxter spoke with Community Engagement Coordinator Paula Mukherjee about her 2024 goals as a volunteer leader and her connection to PanCAN’s mission. This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Paula: How did you find out about PanCAN?
Tristin: I lost my grandmother to pancreatic cancer in 2019. It was very quick. She was diagnosed with stage IV pancreatic cancer. A month and a half later, we lost her. I found PanCAN PurpleStride and pulled the whole family together. It was a super special event for us and continues to be to this day.
Paula: You've been PurpleStride Chair for a few years, and you’ve also taken on a new role as Community Chair. How has your volunteer experience been so far?
Tristin: PurpleStride Chair has been great. That's how I was introduced to PanCAN, so it's nice to be on the other side of things. I know how special PurpleStride is to me and my family and I’m able to contribute to making it special for other people who have lost loved ones or are survivors. It has been a great experience. My second family now is PanCAN.
I'm super excited about the Community Chair position – it's a new volunteer role altogether. I am able to do more events and engage with my community a lot more. There are a lot of people who want to get more involved with PanCAN, so I'm excited to see what happens with that role.
Paula: When you look back at your 2023 accomplishments as a PanCAN volunteer, what makes you the proudest?
Tristin: Oh man, that is a hard one. I'm most proud of our Puget Sound team, our PurpleStride team, and how everyone comes together. It is a great group of people. We don't have all of our roles filled, so it's a smaller team. It's always amazing to see how everyone pulls it off for PurpleStride. I'm always impressed by them.
Paula: What challenges have you faced as a volunteer leader?
Tristin: I think my biggest challenge has been feeling like I'm not doing enough or that I'm dropping the ball. It's easy to get so caught up in your 9-to-5 job, your family and everything else that you feel like you're slacking on your volunteer work. That has definitely been one of my biggest challenges. It's one that team members have brought to me as well, so I don't feel alone in that battle. All we can do is keep getting up and trying. Every little bit counts toward the end goal.
Paula: What would you like to accomplish in the upcoming year?
Tristin: I would like to get PanCAN into the community more. We have our big PurpleStride event, which is great, but we need little events along the way. That is feedback we've heard from participants for a while now. I'm hoping to have more events in our community to bring everyone together, to form a support system, and to spread awareness about pancreatic cancer. To do that, we need more volunteers.
Paula: Are there specific roles that your affiliate is searching for right now?
Tristin: Yes! We’re looking for a Media Chair, a Social Media Chair, a Corporate Teams Chair, and a Grand Club Chair. We’re also looking for volunteers who want to test out volunteering by helping with specific events or projects, so we welcome everyone!
Paula: How do you picture your affiliate getting more involved in the community?
Tristin: Usually when we do an event, we do it in Seattle. It can be hard for people to get into the city. We have PurpleStride participants who are a little further south, like Tacoma and Puyallup, or more to the east, like Bellevue. I’m hoping to have more events all over. We have a new volunteer in Central/Eastern Washington, about three hours away. It's a population that we haven't done anything with in the past, so having a volunteer there is wonderful because we can do PanCAN events over there and show the community that PanCAN is everywhere.
Paula: What keeps you motivated as a volunteer?
Tristin: My grandma is my biggest motivator. There are always times that I feel like work is getting really busy or other things are going on, and I wonder: do I have enough time for PanCAN? Then my grandma pops into my mind and it gets me motivated and helps me stay focused.
The team – the family – that we have in Puget Sound is amazing. We are always motivating each other. Everyone has moments where they feel like they're not doing enough. All of us are always there to say, “You are doing enough.”
Paula: I would love to hear more about your grandmother.
Tristin: My grandma was one of my best friends. We talked at least once a week. She was feisty; I got all my feistiness from her. She was a strong independent woman.
She was also a terrible cook, it turns out. My favorite story about her is from my grandfather. This was in England. When they first started dating, she said, “I'm going to make you spaghetti.” He came over and she had made spaghetti with spam and ketchup. He said it was the hardest spaghetti to eat, but he ate every last bite because she made it for him.
Paula: What keeps you busy outside of PanCAN?
Tristin: Work and family. I am very close to my family. I'm also a huge Seattle Sounders fan, so if the Sounders are doing good, that keeps me very busy. This year we got knocked out of the playoffs pretty early, so I got some extra time back!
Paula: What do you do for work?
Tristin: I work at a tech startup company that has an insomnia platform. I started my career in sleep research and now I've found my way back to sleep research. It's very rewarding; sleep has so much to do with everything in our lives.
Paula: It must be interesting to be in the health research space while volunteering for PanCAN.
Tristin: Definitely. When my grandma passed away, I was working in oncology research. Going to work after losing her and seeing pancreatic cancer patients – those were some of the toughest moments of my life. It was a fresh wound, but it motivated me more.
Paula: What do you want to say to volunteers who are new to PanCAN?
Tristin: Jump in with two feet. It's the best way to do it. I was terrified when I started volunteering. Just keep going and it gets so much better. You’ll feel like you have a family around you. The feeling that you get when you give back to the community is what it's all about. It's a feeling I can't quite put into words.
Paula: Tristin, thank you so much.
Please feel free to contact Tristin Baxter (tbaxter@pancanvolunteer.org) or Paula Mukherjee (pmukherjee@pancan.org) with any questions.
Paula: How did you find out about PanCAN?
Tristin: I lost my grandmother to pancreatic cancer in 2019. It was very quick. She was diagnosed with stage IV pancreatic cancer. A month and a half later, we lost her. I found PanCAN PurpleStride and pulled the whole family together. It was a super special event for us and continues to be to this day.
Paula: You've been PurpleStride Chair for a few years, and you’ve also taken on a new role as Community Chair. How has your volunteer experience been so far?
Tristin: PurpleStride Chair has been great. That's how I was introduced to PanCAN, so it's nice to be on the other side of things. I know how special PurpleStride is to me and my family and I’m able to contribute to making it special for other people who have lost loved ones or are survivors. It has been a great experience. My second family now is PanCAN.
I'm super excited about the Community Chair position – it's a new volunteer role altogether. I am able to do more events and engage with my community a lot more. There are a lot of people who want to get more involved with PanCAN, so I'm excited to see what happens with that role.
Paula: When you look back at your 2023 accomplishments as a PanCAN volunteer, what makes you the proudest?
Tristin: Oh man, that is a hard one. I'm most proud of our Puget Sound team, our PurpleStride team, and how everyone comes together. It is a great group of people. We don't have all of our roles filled, so it's a smaller team. It's always amazing to see how everyone pulls it off for PurpleStride. I'm always impressed by them.
Paula: What challenges have you faced as a volunteer leader?
Tristin: I think my biggest challenge has been feeling like I'm not doing enough or that I'm dropping the ball. It's easy to get so caught up in your 9-to-5 job, your family and everything else that you feel like you're slacking on your volunteer work. That has definitely been one of my biggest challenges. It's one that team members have brought to me as well, so I don't feel alone in that battle. All we can do is keep getting up and trying. Every little bit counts toward the end goal.
Paula: What would you like to accomplish in the upcoming year?
Tristin: I would like to get PanCAN into the community more. We have our big PurpleStride event, which is great, but we need little events along the way. That is feedback we've heard from participants for a while now. I'm hoping to have more events in our community to bring everyone together, to form a support system, and to spread awareness about pancreatic cancer. To do that, we need more volunteers.
Paula: Are there specific roles that your affiliate is searching for right now?
Tristin: Yes! We’re looking for a Media Chair, a Social Media Chair, a Corporate Teams Chair, and a Grand Club Chair. We’re also looking for volunteers who want to test out volunteering by helping with specific events or projects, so we welcome everyone!
Paula: How do you picture your affiliate getting more involved in the community?
Tristin: Usually when we do an event, we do it in Seattle. It can be hard for people to get into the city. We have PurpleStride participants who are a little further south, like Tacoma and Puyallup, or more to the east, like Bellevue. I’m hoping to have more events all over. We have a new volunteer in Central/Eastern Washington, about three hours away. It's a population that we haven't done anything with in the past, so having a volunteer there is wonderful because we can do PanCAN events over there and show the community that PanCAN is everywhere.
Paula: What keeps you motivated as a volunteer?
Tristin: My grandma is my biggest motivator. There are always times that I feel like work is getting really busy or other things are going on, and I wonder: do I have enough time for PanCAN? Then my grandma pops into my mind and it gets me motivated and helps me stay focused.
The team – the family – that we have in Puget Sound is amazing. We are always motivating each other. Everyone has moments where they feel like they're not doing enough. All of us are always there to say, “You are doing enough.”
Paula: I would love to hear more about your grandmother.
Tristin: My grandma was one of my best friends. We talked at least once a week. She was feisty; I got all my feistiness from her. She was a strong independent woman.
She was also a terrible cook, it turns out. My favorite story about her is from my grandfather. This was in England. When they first started dating, she said, “I'm going to make you spaghetti.” He came over and she had made spaghetti with spam and ketchup. He said it was the hardest spaghetti to eat, but he ate every last bite because she made it for him.
Paula: What keeps you busy outside of PanCAN?
Tristin: Work and family. I am very close to my family. I'm also a huge Seattle Sounders fan, so if the Sounders are doing good, that keeps me very busy. This year we got knocked out of the playoffs pretty early, so I got some extra time back!
Paula: What do you do for work?
Tristin: I work at a tech startup company that has an insomnia platform. I started my career in sleep research and now I've found my way back to sleep research. It's very rewarding; sleep has so much to do with everything in our lives.
Paula: It must be interesting to be in the health research space while volunteering for PanCAN.
Tristin: Definitely. When my grandma passed away, I was working in oncology research. Going to work after losing her and seeing pancreatic cancer patients – those were some of the toughest moments of my life. It was a fresh wound, but it motivated me more.
Paula: What do you want to say to volunteers who are new to PanCAN?
Tristin: Jump in with two feet. It's the best way to do it. I was terrified when I started volunteering. Just keep going and it gets so much better. You’ll feel like you have a family around you. The feeling that you get when you give back to the community is what it's all about. It's a feeling I can't quite put into words.
Paula: Tristin, thank you so much.
Please feel free to contact Tristin Baxter (tbaxter@pancanvolunteer.org) or Paula Mukherjee (pmukherjee@pancan.org) with any questions.
