Life has a way of throwing us unexpected challenges, but for Rachel Casciano, those challenges became the very catalyst that transformed her life.  

Growing up, Penn State alumna Casciano had a passion for all things sports and competition. She played every sport you could imagine, from basketball to soccer to volleyball. Casciano loved to be on the field or the court, and her natural talent had her on a path to success. It never occurred to Casciano that one day, she might be forced to step away from the things she enjoyed the most.  

After suffering one too many head injuries, Casciano was sidelined from all physical activities that put her at risk of suffering another blow to the head. Frustrated and lost, she knew that there must be another competitive outlet for her. That’s when she found track and field.  

“I had already run a few relays with my high school track and field team, so I knew it was something I wanted to pursue. It was a nice transition, and it gave me something else to focus on that was not as physical,” Casciano said.  

From the moment she stepped onto the track, Casciano’s speed was undeniable. As she grew in the sport, so did the list of colleges recruiting her. Casciano committed to Penn State and found her home on the track and field team.

It finally felt like everything was going right for Casciano, but all of that changed in an instant. During the summer, Casciano visited urgent care because of the extreme swelling she was experiencing on her cheek.  

“They thought it was a stone stuck in my salivary gland, so they did a CT scan, and they were really chill about it,” Casciano said. “They said it was probably just a virus, and they put me on some medicine. Then they found a nodule in my thyroid, and they weren’t going to have me get a biopsy, but my dad insisted. The doctors kept saying that I was probably fine, so I just went on like normal.”  

With no real explanation for the swelling, Casciano returned to Penn State early in the summer to start training for cross country. However, one day after practice, Casciano got an unexpected visit from her parents.  

“When I was at training camp in the summer for cross country, my parents showed up in the parking lot after practice one day, which was very strange. They eventually told me that the doctor was very wrong about the swelling and that I actually had cancer,” Casciano said.  

After receiving news of her diagnosis, it felt like everything changed for Casciano. However, she was determined to make her life feel as normal as possible.  

“It is a very weird thing to hear you have cancer, especially when you are only 19. It was very shocking at first, and I think for me, I just wanted some type of escapism. So, my mentality was that I was going to keep going hard with running and school,” Casciano said. “I ended up having one of my best cross-country seasons, and I had my best semester of school. I think I just wanted something else to focus on and some sense of normality.” 

Casciano competed in her cross-country season for as long as her body would allow her before having to get her thyroid removed. After removing her thyroid, she underwent radioactive iodine treatment to kill off any thyroid cells left. Casciano also learned the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes, which required her to undergo extra treatment.  

“I was treated at Penn, and I had a really positive and optimistic team,” Casciano said. “I had the best endocrinologist for thyroid cancer in the country and an unbelievable surgeon. They were both amazing.”  

For Casciano, hearing the words cancer changed her life in more ways than imaginable. It changed her mental and physical toughness, but it also changed her life perspective.  

“I was always very type A and would overthink things. I was just a very high-achieving kid. Once I got my cancer diagnosis, it gave me a huge perspective shift that you don’t have to take life so seriously. I mean, of course, you still want to do a good job, but I think it puts into perspective what is actually important,” Casciano said. “When you have something that could literally kill you, you realize a lot of things don’t really matter. Even now, when something minor happens, I will get dramatic and think everything sucks, but then I just take a step back and realize I have been through much harder things.”  

It wasn’t until the end of the spring track season that year that Casciano returned to the sport. As she made her return, Casciano realized the activity that once brought her the most comfort throughout her cancer journey was now so much more than just a sport. Track took on a whole new meaning for Casciano and became what taught her some of life’s most crucial lessons.  

“I think once I was diagnosed with cancer, track became an outlet because it was the thing that made me feel the most normal. When I was running, that was truly the one time in my day when I didn’t feel like a kid with cancer. Instead, I felt like a track athlete,” Casciano said. “I feel like running is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me because it has been able to grow and change with me as I have grown. I think it also taught me some of my greatest lessons, like perseverance and finding comfort in discomfort.”  

While Casciano’s running career at Penn State allowed her to make great strides physically and mentally, there was undeniably a darker side to the sport that Casciano couldn’t continue to ignore. She competed for Penn State’s cross country and track and field teams through her junior year of college but made the difficult decision to take a step back her senior year.  

“It was a great experience running at Penn State, and it taught me a lot about myself, although there were some not so great parts to it,” Casciano said. “I have seen the ugly side of running. I think there is a really toxic side to it, and a lot you have to manage because all you have in running is yourself.”  

For years after her collegiate career, Casciano struggled to find that love for running she once had. It was a long process, but today, she can confidently say her relationship with running is stronger than it ever was.  

“After college, it was hard to still enjoy running because of all the pressure it would put on me. Eventually, I started to slowly find this beautiful relationship with running that I would say I have fully built today,” Casciano said. “Now, 15 years removed from college track, I am able to see that it has really given me everything I have. I wouldn’t have the job I have now, or the friends, or my partner. It is an interesting sport because it has an ugly side, but I think what it has given me has outweighed any of the negative things.”  

After college, Casciano worked for Nike in digital and brand marketing for a few years. Through connections, she learned that Lululemon was planning to launch its first running shoe, and Casciano wanted in.  

“I started with Lululemon three and half years ago to launch their first running shoe, which was really cool, but footwear is very hard. It is a long game, and it takes a long time to build credibility around it. From there, my role kind of expanded to leading all of running,” Casciano said. “Now, I work closely with the product and innovation teams to determine who the target audience is that we want to win against and what makes us unique compared to all the competitors out there.” 

Not only does Casciano get to work in the running industry, but she also gets to use her platform with Lululemon to advocate for an equal playing field in female sports. Her most recent project focused on learning about female athlete needs and developing products based on these needs.  

“For the past two years, we have been really focused on this one project where we did an ultramarathon with 10 women who are ambassadors of ours. These 10 women tried to run as far as they could over six days to level the playing field for women,” Casciano said. “Most of the time, when women go to buy running products, especially shoes, it is geared toward men. So, we gathered a lot of insights from female runners on things they feel they need but don’t have because most brands don’t design in a way that is intended for women.”

As Casciano and her team looked deeper into the misrepresentation of women in the sports industry, they discovered many of these discrepancies come from what the world knows about the “average athlete.” The only problem is that the “average athlete” is a male.   

“We also had a research project attached to it where we were trying to understand human performance because most research programs are based on men. We know so much more about male athletes, and women are never tested because it is inconvenient and harder,” Casciano said. “Our research team, however, decided that we were going to try and better understand female athletes, so those studies are starting to come out.” 

As Casciano reflects on her journey and everything she has learned along the way, she is incredibly grateful for the life she has today. However, one of the most important lessons her experiences taught her was to trust the process.  

“If there is one thing I have learned as I have gotten older, it is that a lot of things will work out. Just enjoy the process and stop overthinking and worrying about the small things. I look back to when I was younger, and I think I put so much pressure on myself that I didn’t even enjoy the process of getting to where I am now,” Casciano said. “I think no matter what stage of life you’re in, it can be easy to get overwhelmed and frustrated by the little things. Just try and take yourself less seriously and enjoy life.”