Heather L. Mazurkiewicz

Each week the Cape Coral Breeze will feature a leader within the business community — public sector, private sector, or non-profit — asking a dozen questions that focus on the person and the business in which they hold a leadership role.

Bio:

Name: Heather L. Mazurkiewicz

Position: Public Education/Information Officer & Assistant State Director

Company or Organization: North Collier Fire Control Rescue District & Firefighter Cancer Support Network of Florida

Your business

at a glance:

What do you do: I represent the highly skilled professionals of the North Collier Fire District at public events, speaking engagements, community meetings. I also oversee our CERT (Citizens Emergency Response Teams) program, community CPR, public education program and I deal with media inquiries on and off fire scenes. We are an All Hazards Response Agency covering 265 square miles in Collier and well over 1450,000 residents and visitors.

As the Assistant State Director for the Firefighter Cancer Support Network, I travel around the state and country advocating for firefighters and teaching them ways to significantly reduce their risk of being diagnosed with cancer. I was just appointed as vice chair of a national committee studying the impact of firefighting and cancer in female firefighters. There is such a small percentage of female firefighters in the fire service but it is growing. We need to know more about the impact the exposures firefighters face from the female perspective such as pregnancy, breastfeeding and the different cancers we are more susceptible to than our male counterparts.

Unique Niche: Being able speak to members of the public about the fire profession and trying to showcase the amazing professionals that make it up. I also love teaching CPR and first aid to anyone and everyone. Give me an hour and I will impart in you the confidence to perform the skills necessary to save someone’s life. There is no greater gift!

Bragging Rights: Being a significant part of passing cancer coverage for Florida firefighters in 2019. Florida was one of the last states to pass cancer coverage for firefighters. Study after study has shown cancer to be the greatest threat to our nation’s firefighters and the number one killer of firefighters. On July 1, 2019, after over a decade of fighting, a law granting coverage to firefighters diagnosed with 21 cancers was passed. The legislation also included benefits for the firefighter’s family in the event the firefighter died from the occupational disease. Long after I am gone this law will still be protecting my fire family.

Where you see your business in five years: I hope to have compiled one of the strongest public education programs in the state of Florida. My goal is to incorporate and co-mingle STEM and a fire truck as a way to excite kids about the fire profession and the opportunities this profession offers.

I also want to continue to educate firefighters about ways they reduce their risk of hearing those words “you have cancer.” My hope is no firefighter will ever have to use the legislation we worked so hard to pass.

About you:

Describe yourself in one word: Passionate

Hero, role model or mentor: My daughter Mia, I work every day to be my best for her.

Person you’d most like to meet: Jesus Christ

Book that changed your life: “Daring Greatly” by Brene Brown.

Best business advice you’ve ever received: It’s the arena quote by Teddy Roosevelt. I heard it the first time when I was 20 from Hyatt Brown, the CEO of the insurance agency I was working for. I looked it up, printed and framed it and set it on my desk and have lived by it ever since. Success or failure, you have to step into the arena.

Biggest risk you ever taken: Leaving my CEO position and entering into the fire academy at 45 years old to pursue a career in the fire profession.

Personal passion: Experiencing life with my daughter.

Guilty pleasure: Peanut butter pie from The Veranda.