The “oyster poisoning” that turned out to be cancer.

On August 13th, 2013, I went to the ER at three in the morning for what I was certain was “oyster poisoning.”

Instead, a very attractive ER doctor, my very own Dr. McDreamy (silver lining), sat down and gently told me it wasn’t food poisoning. They’d found a mass on my kidney. It turned out to be stage two renal carcinoma.

Did I think I was going to die? Of course I did.

But I didn’t. Two weeks later I had surgery, and I’ve been cancer-free for over a decade since. That night changed everything, including how I saw the work I’d already spent two decades doing. It’s the reason this company exists.

I’ve sat on every side of the hiring table.

For most of my career, I worked the company side. I ran the top-producing office in the country for an Inc. 500 recruiting firm, and I founded and co-founded three executive search firms. For every role I filled, I’d find ten or more genuinely qualified people, then make the hardest call in the business: which three to put in front of the hiring manager. Only one got the job.

The other nine weren’t lesser. They lost to fit, to timing, to an internal referral, to a promotion no one saw coming. Or, the one that stayed with me, they simply weren’t positioned in time. They didn’t present at their best in the moment that decided everything.

During my decade at GSK, inside the commercial engine, I watched two restructures land when almost no one saw them coming. And because people knew my background as a recruiter, they came to me in a panic, resumes half-finished, searches started from scratch, scrambling to catch up to a decision that had already been made about them.

So I built Yaffa Grace & Co. to connect the people who build BioPharma, the ones who get life-saving treatments into the hands of the patients who need them most.

So I stopped choosing sides.

Today I partner with early-stage to mid-size biotechs building their commercial teams. And I work with the professionals on the other side of that decision, the talented, experienced people who deserve to be seen and positioned to win. I know what a hiring manager is weighing, what earns the interview, and what ends a candidacy before it starts. I’ve been the one making the call. Now I make sure you’re ready before it comes.

Why this work is personal.

I’ve been the patient. And I’ve watched my mother live with a rare disease that still has no treatment available. So this has never been just work. It’s deeply personal.

That’s why rare disease is close to my heart, though my work spans all of pharma and biotech. Because behind every commercial hire, whether it’s in rare disease, gene therapy, oncology, neurology, or other disease states, there’s a patient waiting on the other side of it.

When the right team gets the right treatment to market, someone gets the chance my mother is still waiting for.

That’s why I care as much about the company getting the hire right as the person getting hired. When it works, everyone wins, especially the one waiting on the treatment.

Whether you’re advancing your career or building a commercial team, I’m glad you’re here. It’s an honor.

— Yaffa