‘Today’ Lifestyle Expert Jill Martin on Traveling As a Breast Cancer Survivor and How She Continues to Spread Awareness

Today commerce and lifestyle contributor Jill Martin has always had a deep connection with travel. And while her 2023 breast cancer diagnosis may have paused any plans that required a plane ticket, she’s been getting back into it, but with a new perspective.

“It’s different now,” she told Travel + Leisure in a recent interview. “To be able to go away and feel like a version of myself again, where I’m able to enjoy life is such a gift that I will never take for granted.”

Especially for Martin, who told us she could “travel the rest of my life,” the idea of having to put travel on the back burner was devastating.

“[I thought] am I ever going to get to travel? Am I ever going to feel well again? There’s a lot of mental trauma that I’m working through right now, and I’m asking for help, which I don’t normally do,” she said. “I’m usually the person who gives the help, and now I’m asking for it, but I just want to be up with my family and go on adventures.”

Now cancer-free in 2024, Martin is back to planning trips including a big one at the end of this year with her entire family. But now, she’s a bit more mindful in her approach.

“When I was younger, I used to plan every moment and now I let my trips breathe,” she said. “I give everyone free time. I think sometimes the best moments and places are when you explore. I believe that in life you’re most creative when you get bored, when your mind is not scrolling. And so my trips are very much about relaxing and appreciating every moment. I don’t like phones. I don’t like every moment memorialized. I ask that everyone put their phones away during meals. But I do find the best moments, especially on trips, are those hidden jewels that you find because you wander. And I’m a big wanderer.”

When she’s not traveling, Martin makes it her mission to lend her lifestyle and fashion expertise to breast cancer awareness, especially with her new brand By Jill Martin, which features a special pink version of her best-selling sherpa coat. And this month, she’s teamed up with the NBA and the WNBA to release loungers and hoodies with pink logos for Breast Cancer Awareness month.

Proceeds from the sherpas will be donated to the Basser Center for BRCA, the first center dedicated to the research, treatment, and prevention of BRCA-related cancers. (Martin was positive for the BRCA2 gene mutation, which quickly led to her stage 2 breast cancer diagnosis despite a clean mamogram only six months before.)

“I believe I was given the honor of this mission to help other people, and that Today gave me the platform to tell my story, and the NBA and WNBA gave me the license and the ability to turn the logo pink on my items” she said of the partnership.

Though she created this loungewear collection around advocacy she says it is her must-have travel item.

“People wear it on the plane because it’s machine washable,” she said, adding that it does not go in the dryer. “It keeps you warm and cozy, and it also keeps you safe. For me, I wore it all during treatment, so having the ability to launch that and now it will go on every adventure with me, and I love hearing from other people and telling me where the sherpa took them on their adventure.”

When it comes to other packing tips, Martin swears by packing cubes and also suggests picking one hero item and then shaping your entire travel wardrobe around it, like a slip dress you can dress up or down with a jacket and heels or a sweater and sneakers.

With a busy October ahead with her new brand and various Breast Cancer Awareness month events, she says she is so grateful she was able to share her story and encourage others to get scanned.

“I am a proud breast cancer survivor, and it’s a group I never wanted to be in,” she said. “I know it seems strange, after all I’ve been through, but I I still think I’m the luckiest person in the world.”