AnneMarie Guerra is a dedicated community leader, national championship cheer director, and passionate advocate for resilience, strength, and service. A proud Levittown resident, she has devoted 16 years to building and leading local nonprofit youth cheerleading programs entirely through volunteer service creating opportunities for young athletes to grow not only in athletic skill, but in character, discipline, and confidence.
For more than a decade and a half, AnneMarie has given countless hours to her community organizing programs, mentoring athletes, supporting families, fundraising, and building sustainable nonprofit teams that open doors for children across Levittown. Her work is not a profession; it is a commitment to service rooted in purpose.
She is the Director of Levittown Pride Cheerleading and Program Director for the Rec Nationals Division a nonprofit program that has earned three National Titles, two of which were coached directly by AnneMarie alongside her daughters, Sofia and Evangeline. Together, they have built a culture grounded in integrity, accountability, and heart proving that volunteer-driven organizations can compete and win at the highest levels nationally. Behind the scenes, her husband Ray Guerra has been her unwavering support understanding what drives her.
Professionally, AnneMarie serves as an Account Executive at Insidesource, a leading contract furniture dealership in New York City. In alignment with her own journey, she has proudly taken the Working With Cancer pledge through her work with Publicis supporting workplace cultures that provide compassion, flexibility, and dignity for employees navigating cancer. Her professional leadership reflects the same empathy and strength that define her personal story.
Her favorite motto reflects the way she lives:
DON'T LET THE HARD DAYS WIN
AnneMarie's personal journey is one of profound resilience.
In 2009, during hospitalization for appendicitis, a small "spot" was noted on her lung something she initially set aside while balancing motherhood, career, and volunteer leadership.
In 2010, after collapsing at a client's office and being hospitalized with sepsis, physicians briefly feared ovarian cancer before diagnosing a severe pelvic infection. Still, the lung spot remained unaddressed.
Then, on November 10, 2010, everything changed.
Dr. Stanley Rabinowitz, newly appointed at Island Pulmonary, discovered her chart and personally called her, urging her to come in. That phone call would ultimately save her life.
After further testing and a lung resection performed by thoracic surgeon Dr. Scott Schubeck, AnneMarie was diagnosed with Stage 1 Myoepithelial Carcinoma of the lung a rare form of lung cancer. She was 40 years old, active, and a non-smoker.
Presented with two options conservative monitoring with significantly lower survival odds, or removal of her left lower lobe with a projected 82% survival rate and reduced risk of metastasis she chose surgery without hesitation.
When faced with personal self trauma, AnneMarie turns inward quiet, focused, decisive. She processes privately and acts deliberately. In that defining moment, she saw her children growing up at the time still babies and made a choice rooted in one clear thought: I'm not missing anything.
The surgery was successful. Because it was caught at Stage 1 and she chose an aggressive course of action, her outcome shifted in her favor.
That experience reshaped her perspective forever. It deepened her gratitude, sharpened her purpose, and strengthened her resolve to show up fully and intentionally in every aspect of her life.
AnneMarie does not allow her cancer diagnosis to define her it is simply one battle she has fought and won. Her journey reflects the power of early intervention, decisive action, and continued progress in cancer research.
As she continues to lead her community not for recognition, but for impact she stands as a reminder of what is possible when science, courage, service, and hope come together.
She is proof that survival creates purpose and that we must never let the hard days win.
