Divabetic® was inspired by the late R & B legend, Luther Vandross, and created and founded by his long-time assistant, Max Szadek. ‘Divabetic’, a combination of the word ‘diabetic’ and the letter ‘V’ for Vandross, evokes feelings of power and positive attitude associated with the great DIVAS Luther loved like Ms. Patti LaBelle. Divabetic® encourages every woman affected by diabetes to take on a diva’s bold sassy personae and posture to help improve the quality of her life. We believe, if we empower the DIVA within you to manage your diabetes properly, you will strive to live life at your best. You may even feel glamorous!

We spread our ‘Glam More, Fear Less’ philosophy to empower those affected by diabetes. It adds a bit of ‘fabulousness’ to our style of outreach! Beauty and fashion experts work side by side with health educators. Not surprisingly, a new shade of lipstick or better fitting bra has proven to be highly effective in changing a woman’s mindset and renewing her interest in taking better care of herself. This philosophy, we feel, can help enlighten, not frighten this generation of newly diagnosed women as well as provide new forms of encouragement to those who have been living with the disease for 5, 10 or 60 years!

Last year, Divabetic® gained national attention due to the success of our outreach program, ‘Divabetic - Makeover Your Diabetes’, presented in eight major US cities through sponsorship from Novo Nordisk. We had the opportunity to work with teams of local certified diabetes educators in each city and to reach thousands of women affected by diabetes across the country. The popularity and increased demand for this program has helped us to define our mission and expand our methods of outreach. Now, we see our mission is to inspire and enliven interest in women at risk of and affected by diabetes and the community of healthcare providers who work tirelessly to help them.

Divabetic® ’s origins were simple. We operated solely as a fundraising effort for various diabetes-related charities by selling Divabetic® t-shirts. Brisk sales from our infamous t-shirts with the catchphrase sugar’s the bitch. not me!, were the catalyst for the creation of our diva brand of outreach programming that is available today. We were frequently approached by women who were excited by our merchandise, and asked ‘if we did anything else besides sell t-shirts?!’

After some coaxing we developed and presented our first small-scale ‘DIVA’ outreach events in New York City. The ‘girl’s nights out’ atmosphere of these events, featuring makeovers and music, turned into a viable new way to present real life problems, body image issues and matters of the heart where diabetes was concerned. Women left our events smiling instead of bored and overwhelmed. Encouragement and individual attention proved to be just as important as traditional diabetes education. The drive and determination of so many of our DIVAS inspired us to create our ‘instant tradition’ of taking time to recognize and reward efforts to stay healthy.

Today, Divabetic diabetes outreach efforts aim to spark interest in better care and to lift spirits of women affected by diabetes and their loved ones. Our sisterhood of diabetes continues to grow in both confidence and commitment. There’s a glamorous, hip, fun and friendly manner to our outreach and plenty of positive energy swirling around the room from start to finish!

A percentage of the sale of all Divabetic merchandise available on-line and at our various programs, goes to support our ongoing efforts to take diabetes education out of the clinical setting and into new and exciting locales. It’s all done for the divas, so come on and pass the boa! We wish to thank Design Monsters, the Muhlenberg Foundation, the Diabetes Center of New Jersey, Grace Baptist Church, Novo Nordisk, BioSector 2, the Sweet Enuff Movement, Balance Lives, MESS Makeup Studios, dLife, the McBurney YMCA, AVON, Inc., the Charles Ray III Diabetes Association, the Apollo Theater, Mount Sinai Medical Center, the New York Chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), Harlem’s Heaven Hat Boutique, the New York Chapter of the American Diabetes Association (ADA), Karline’s Salon and Spa, High Voltage, The Gerald J. Friedman Diabetes Institute, Rendezvous Entertainment, PEOPLE magazine, JET magazine, Roberta Cohen, John Nolan, Lisa Fischer, Arthel Neville, Mother Love, Sheena Easton and Mrs. Mary Ida Vandross for their kindness, enthusiasm, time and support of our initial efforts to change attitudes regarding diabetes.

Diabetes managed to silence one of the world’s most beautiful voices in July 2005 but that doesn’t mean it has to stop yours. Join us! Lift your voice, share your experiences and take the time to empower and to educate your loved ones about your care so that they can help you to manage your diabetes in a better way. Start today.