S5 Ep18: How an MLM Urged One Survivor to Use Her Cancer Diagnosis to Push Products

<div>At the time of her cervical cancer diagnosis in 2015, Emily Lynn Paulson was involved in a multi-level marketing (MLM) company — a business where individuals sign up to sell products, and then are encouraged to recruit others to distribute under them. <br> <br> </div> <br> <div>“When I got the diagnosis, I thought ‘OK, I’m going to have to step back and take a break from this,” Paulson said in an interview with CURE®. “I was really encouraged by the people in my upline (saying), ‘Use this to your advantage. You’re going through this thing. People love personal stories, people love vulnerability.’” <br> <br> </div> <br> <div>After Paulson was diagnosed, others in the company encouraged her to use her diagnosis to sell more products; she said that this type of emotional manipulation was not an uncommon tactic to make more money. <br> <br> </div> <br> <div> <strong><em>READ MORE: </em></strong><a href="https://www.curetoday.com/view/the-dark-side-of-cancer-and-social-media"><strong><em>The Dark Side of Cancer and Social Media<br> </em></strong></a><br> </div> <br> <div>Meanwhile, Paulson underwent a trachelectomy (cervix removal) and was working on getting sober after her bout with cancer. Two years later, she received a second diagnosis, which led to a hysterectomy, and more doubt about the company she was working for. Eventually, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, she said she realized how predatory these sales tactics were and left the company to become a sobriety coach and author of the book, “Hey Hun: Sales, Sisterhood, Supremacy, and the Other Lies Behind Multilevel Marketing.” <br> <br> </div> <br> <div>“Being in an MLM, you really target people’s pain points… there’s a solution to every pain point; it’s just a very predatory design,” she said. <br> <br> </div> <br> <div>In this episode of the “Cancer Horizons” podcast, Paulson discusses her cancer experience, life in the MLM, sobriety and more. <br> <br> </div> <br> <div> <em>For more news on cancer updates, research and education, don’t forget to <