Liya Shuster-Bier is the founder and CEO of Alula, the radically honest resource making cancer less lonely.

On January 11, 2018, on the cusp of her 30th birthday, six months after graduating from Wharton, Liya was diagnosed with a rare form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Taking the knowledge gained from her experience, Liya built Alula to support people, families, and friends through the entire lifecycle of cancer, from diagnosis and treatment to recovery and (sometimes) bereavement.

Prior to Alula, Liya built a career in community development and impact investing, partnering with mayors and governors across the country to create innovative financing solutions that improved community outcomes. She started her career at Goldman Sachs, on the corporate currency derivatives team. In addition to receiving her MBA in Entrepreneurial Management from The Wharton School, Liya is a proud Dartmouth alum, native Queens girl, and an immigrant from Baku.

On this episode we discuss Liya's personal experiences with cancer, her career path to entrepreneurship, and how she built Alula.