October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. Estée Lauder has been at the forefront of the fight for about three decades now. William P. Lauder, executive chairman of Estée Lauder and Elizabeth Hurley, actress and Global Ambassador of Estée Lauder's Breast Cancer Campaign, joined Cheddar News to discuss the fight against the disease.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, and Estée Lauder has been at the forefront of the fight for about three decades now. William P. Lauder, executive chairman of Estée Lauder Companies, and Elizabeth Hurley, actress and Global Ambassador of Estée Lauder Companies' Breast Cancer Campaign, joined Cheddar News to discuss the fight against the disease. "Over 75% of our employees are women, over 95% of our consumers are women," Lauder said. "So for us, it's a very personal passion to be able to find something that we can have as a mission as a company where we can help those whom we serve the most which are women.”

William Lauder, Elizabeth Hurley on Estée Lauder’s Breast Cancer Campaign 

Welcome back to closing bell on cheddar news. Everyone october is breast cancer awareness month, a disease that affects both men and women and is among the most common cancers in the world. According to the National breast Cancer Foundation, about one in eight women will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of her lifetime. And it's therefore important to continue to raise awareness and support everyone affected by this disease. A leading beauty company has been at the forefront of this mission for the past three decades and joining me now is William lauder, executive chairman of Estee lauder companies and Elizabeth Hurley, actress and global ambassador este lauder companies breast cancer campaign, Thank you both for being with us today, William Your company has been dedicated to this cause since 1992. It's been your largest corporate social impact program since then. Why was it so important for you to support it then and also today? Well, when you think about it in 1992 the statistics were still the same as they are today. One in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer sometime during their, in their lifetime. We the Estee lauder companies, our company founded by a woman, my grandmother Estee lauder for women Over 75% of our employees are women. Over 95% of our consumers are women. So for us it's a very personal passion to be able to find something that we can have as a mission as a company where we can help those whom we serve the most which are women. Yeah, and Liz I want to get with you in just a moment, but Williams sticking with you? Not a lot of people know that the iconic pink ribbon was created by your late mother? What does it mean for you personally, that it has become the universal symbol of breast cancer awareness around the world? Well, it's something that I'm extraordinary, proud of. My mother created the pink ribbon campaign and it's still something so passionate today, I wear a pink ribbon on my lapel and every jacket I have every day of the year, not just during the month of october because this is a disease that does not know a calendar and it's something that I feel very personally because of the passion and the leadership of my mother, but more just as importantly, the commitment and passion of all of the employees of the Estee lauder, companies for the breast cancer campaign and for the good that they can do is something that I'm so, so proud of, that. It's something I live every day, Wow, that's really powerful. And Elizabeth, I see you rocking the pink, you're the global ambassador of this campaign and you've been involved since the 90s. I saw from your instagram that you lost your grandmother to breast cancer. Why was it important for you to stay involved in this campaign? Well, it's true that when I joined the S.A. of companies in 95, I just lost my grandmother to breast cancer. So when William's mother, Evelyn told me that she just started a new campaign and would I help her with it once? She told me that it was for breast cancer. And the reason she was doing it was because women all over the world were dying and no one was talking about it. It just resonated with me so very much because that was exactly the position that my family had felt in whilst my grandmother was dying, that we didn't know anything about breast cancer. My grandmother didn't know anything about breast cancer. We didn't know anything about her treatments. And it was like the dark ages. And I really feel that Evelyn with her foundation and with our campaign really sort of brought us into the light. And now, you know, 30 years on the whole world knows about breast cancer. We all know about treatments. We all know about how statistics have improved. How just it's a different landscape than it was when Evelyn asked me way back then to join in. So for me, it's just been, you know, a part of my life now for 27 years. I can't imagine october without it. But as William says, it's not just october, it's it's pretty much every day of our lives every day, somebody will talk to me about breast cancer. And it can be tough listening sometimes, but also in some ways uplifting because of the advances that have been made through research, wow. And you should both be very proud of the progress that has been made since you first started this campaign Elizabeth? I know that you're really vocal about getting women to get their mammograms. Uh you get yours around, your birthday's in june. I know you're a fellow gemini. Do you have any other advice for women out there to stay aware and cognizant of their health? Especially when it comes to breast cancer awareness? Yes. Well our message hasn't really changed in 30 years. Still one of the most important messaging out there is that early detection saves lives. So, um William's mother Evelyn used to say that women really need to familiarize themselves with their own breasts from puberty and learn to self check and look in the mirror. Have a doctor maybe show you how to check your own breasts and do that absolutely every month and go straight to the doctor if you think anything could be wrong. Because really until women are about 40 normally the breast tissue is too dense to get a mammogram. So that is really the only thing you can do and it's very important that you do it. So that is something that we encourage everyone to do and once you're of an age to be screened, get screened on time. Yeah, lots of good advice for people to stay aware and William as we mentioned, this being the 30th year anniversary of this campaign. As you look back at the decades. What are you most proud of when it comes to the impact that you've had? I think I'm most proud first of all for the employees of the Estee lauder companies and everything that they've been able to do to help us in this cause. But I'm also extraordinarily proud of the brilliant researchers who we've been able to fund to help make, help us to achieve progress in finding a cure for breast cancer. 30 years ago, a woman diagnosed with stage one breast cancer had a 75% chance of surviving five years or more today, a woman diagnosed with stage one breast cancer has an over 90% chance of surviving five years or more. That's extraordinary progress in a relatively short period of time. It gives us a lot of hope for the progress in the future of what we can achieve and it's something that's encouraging. But the pride we take is only as good as the continued success of the brilliant researchers we we support and we have to continue to support them in their work so that they can find a cure so that the people who we care most about the women in our lives if they're impacted by this disease instead of it being something to be afraid of, it's something to know that they can embrace and not be afraid of and can live a long time. Really extraordinary work. Thank you both for everything that you're doing for this cause. That's William lauder, executive chairman of Estee lauder companies and Elizabeth Hurley actress and global ambassador of Estee lauder companies, breast cancer campaign.