Meet Eyal Schechter | Eyal Schechter – Creative Solutionist, and Founder of The Bebop Cancer Foundation

We had the good fortune of connecting with Eyal Schechter and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Eyal, we’d love to hear what makes you happy.
Mindlessness and Mindfulness.

What makes me happy is when I’m not thinking—when I’m walking my dog and not worrying about anything else, eating with my family, playing soccer, and just playing. There’s nothing like being completely mindless and in a flow state of being. I like to think that the path my life takes is always progressing toward a goal of complete mindlessness. Helping people helps with that a lot—I find that when I focus on someone else’s problems and challenges, I’m not so caved in by my own.

The natural polarity to that is mindfulness. When I’m doing something—whatever it is—I have a tendency to drift. That in itself isn’t bad, but life is all about compounded interest. Over time, I’ve drifted far from where I originally hoped to go. And while it may sound simple, trusting that initial gut feeling and the intuition that comes to me—whether from a higher power or just instincts—is usually the best course of action, or at least the most authentic one.

At the same time, there’s something to be said for risk—leaving the intangibles of the future up to chance and embracing the unknown. So all that being said, when im in a truly happy state, mindfulness leads to mindlessness and back around continuing the cycle. This makes me happy because inside that loop, i’m not impervious to the harsh realities of being alive but I’m the most authentic and honest version of myself. Not without fear, worry, or boredom but rather embracing them and not fighting anything or anything but rather continuing on towards my individual dreams.

What should our readers know about your business?
Bebop is my life’s work. It started from being diagnosed with stage 4 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in 2020 at the age of 27 and realizing that not only is cancer obviously really fuck*ng bad physically and financially, but its so fuck*
ng boring and depressing. You might say, “hey eyal no shit” but id say well does that mean we just do fuck*ng nothing about it? (you know i gotta tough talk in my fake convos)

Really i just got my first bills in the mail and was so fuck*d. I mean insurance doesn’t roll over for some reason so if you get cancer in october and still have it the following january, just cuz you reach your deductible doesnt mean it carrys over. EVEN IF YOU HAVE THE SAME DISEASE AND TREATMENTS. obviously a conversation for another time. but i got the bills and decided i was going to make a brand and sell merch to help pay for my cancer biils. I worked at king of pops in the popsicle factory kitchen in 2015 and i would draw popsicles on evertyhing and eventually made little hats and shirts, so i repurposed that design for the merch I made and decided on the concept of having a cancer based “nonsense” brand. Essentially it would not follow the considered normal rules of branding in the sense the logo could change, the name made no sense to anyone but me, the colors could change, and so on. The original name of the brand was Bebop & Gazpacho. Merely because it sounded cool and they were my two favorite words and also inspired by a memory of eating gazpacho with my grandma and grandpa as a kid and the anime cowboy bebop.

Long story short something very strange happened, Basically i made half the designs i was using and i sent DMs on instagram to about 100 artists who i thought had good style and asked if they would donate a design for me to use on merch to sell with the theme of cancer. So I coulndt believe it really when i recieved about 7 designs from various artists around the world and a few in Atlanta. I made merch through print on demand and both posted on instagram and ordered some for myself to wear.

So the moments that i knew there was something special happened around when i was doing chemo and people would randomly talk to me about my socks or a tote bag or hoodie I had on. I realized that we were complaining about our diseases or the pain, or the bills, or that one nurse we didnt like, or the chair, or getting stabbed 20 times a day by random things, but we were just two cancer ridden goofy humans talking about popsicles on some socks. That is fuck*ng amazing. Really like hospitals spend massive amounts of money to “spruce up the place” and I put a popsicle on a sock to find the solution, go figure. But it was then that i realized that this concept of creating a pause in the experience and being able to break the mold of our situations allowing us to actually have human conversations about our situations, both about cancer and other things, actually was profound. I know im ranting on this one, but I also made a few sales online to cancer patients who found me on instagram and their families and the messages i was receiving about how cool the designs were and how much they appreciated the purpose. All in all, I was like there is something here.

I’ve learned a lot of lessons, some about letting people mourn the way they want to, others about the power design has to evolve and transform that which seemed unchangeable. I can’t drone about my story and tell you all the lessons I’ve learned along the way. But what I will say is without a doubt I have learned that making something fun and impactful at the same time is really fuck*ng simple if you just never quit trying no matter what.

I think I’ve way over answered here, but all I want the world to know is that The Bebop Cancer Foundation’s mission is to transform the global relationship with cancer and we will bridge the gap between the creative and medical world’s. Just because you’re having a cancer experience, doesn’t mean you can’t have a human experience, and we will transform the cancer experience.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Ok, for food, first and foremost and as often as possible we are at The Third Space Atlanta. That is beyond the best food in Atlanta. There’s no set menu and they run a farm in ellenwood at Atlanta Harvest. Its unreal. Other than that we are on buford highway, just hitting my favorites for the week. Hmart food court, Northern China Eatery, El rey, White Windmill, and because I think it was actually the best meal in atlanta at one point til they took it from us the buffett at the dekalb farmers market.

I don’t drink so who really knows, but if the eastern or variety playhouse has a show or if MJQ is open seems like a move. I been on such a work and repeat grind for awhile I don’t know the best spots to drink at but i will say if we can go back to like edgewood circa 2012 then probably soundtable and mother and the old MJQ house/disco room.

I think its fun to see some of the nature too, like the lake claire land trust is the best thing in atlanta regardless of anyone’s opinion. I mean IYKYK but there isnt anything like it. Defintely not in atlanta but hemlock falls is worth the drive and the hike is very very chill.

I mean on top of that I feel like Atlanta is really split into so many small communities and holy hell theyve changed so much so it really depends on the friend.

But I will say in Atlanta right now the newly built and moved into ABV Gallery is by far the best place I would take someone to see art and that side of culture here without getting too deep. There is also Cat Eye Creative which has great shows. But I have been so impressed by ABV and the investment theyve put in both to put something like that in EAV and to bring in artists from not just the south but all over. Its really amazing.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I mean, all measures of success I have are due to my relationship with God and my family. Along the way, I have been beyond blessed to have amazing people come into my life—and some out of my life—who have shaped me, allowing me to continue pursuing my dreams and have accomplishments to look back on while remaining hopeful for the future.

I don’t consider family to be just the people I share a name with. There is certainly a core group of friends I sincerely consider family who have stuck by me, laughed at me, and told me real things when i needed to hear them.

That said, I can’t go without mentioning my sister, brother, mother, and father. They have not only stood by me in both sadness and applause but have shown me a level of grace that I am truly grateful for.

Website: https://www.bebopfoundation.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/madebyeyal/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eyal-schechter12332/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@bebopcancerfoundation

Other: https://www.instagram.com/bebopcancerfoundation/