"Allow Me To Re-Introduce Myself"

Hi, I’m Cheryl. It’s the start of a new quarter, a new moon, a new season, and for some of us, a new year. With all of this newness energy, let me re-introduce myself to you because you are someone important to me. You are one of my people. You’ve likely opened your head and heart to me at some point or multiple points over the last several decades of my existence, and I am deeply appreciative. I want to catch you up because I need your help now too, more than ever, to continue to do the work I love doing in the world. It takes a lot of self-reflection, and trial and error to find your life purpose. Once you find it, it takes a village of supporters to help you live out that purpose. So, good person, friend, current or former colleague, let’s dive in. 

I am a community builder and bridge builder working to create a more shared society. I create spaces for people to deepen their understanding of themselves and others. It’s a mix of dialogue work, conflict resolution, peacebuilding, and creating trust across difference. Cultivating these spaces helps us see each other’s humanity, which improves our wellbeing as people and helps heal our fragile society and democracy. It also makes us all feel so much less alone. If we can get more people in conversation, community, and collaboration with each other, if we can hold space for each other, if we can find common ground, and if we can respect the diverse set of perspectives and lived experiences of others, then we can live in a shared society.

Part of how I do this is helping people feel seen and heard. In a moment of immense global upheaval, it sometimes feels like people are doing more shouting at each other than listening. So I listen to people. Deeply. I seek to understand what they are saying with their words and what they are expressing beyond their words. How are they emoting? How does their body position share something else about how they are thinking or feeling? When I truly listen to someone, and don’t respond with quick affirmations to make them feel good, or quick solutions that they don’t usually need from me, they often tend to say more. Usually, the first thing we say to someone isn’t all we have to say. It’s the start. If we feel safe, secure, heard, then we might say more. We might reveal more of ourselves to this person. I get joy out of helping people uncover more of themselves to me, their thoughts, their hopes, their dreams, their fears, their reflections on their lives and the world around them. 

Because once we can share more of who we are and feel safe doing so, then we can connect in real, authentic, meaningful, substantive ways with other humans. When I do that I feel connected, I feel seen too. I feel more whole. It feels like a little part of our deeply fractured world just got put back together. It feels restorative. It feels like repair work. I believe that this is part of the work I am meant to do in this world. 

That is my who and also my why. So how do I translate that into what I do in the world? One way is through facilitating across lines of difference. I have co-facilitated groups of local community members in Washington, DC to delve into a variety of contentious social topics, focused on cross-cultural bridge building. I have co-led cohorts of women from different backgrounds to bolster capital for underresourced entrepreneurs. I have designed retreats for executive teams with different approaches to leadership, management, and communication. I have designed and led trainings for organizations seeking to bolster their staff’s skills in holding space across difference. I have conducted listening sessions with different constituent groups within an organization after a series of ruptures within the organization’s broader community. 

Another way I use my bridge building is as a data impact strategist for changemakers. As a strategist, I help organizations create and execute plans that fulfill their mission. I do that by helping organizations effectively use their data to deepen their impact. Data can be numbers (quantitative) and/or stories (qualitative), and impact is the way they want to make the world better. My love for data came in college when I first learned how to use data to understand the complex social issues I care about, including creating pathways for all children in this country to have positive educational and life trajectories. I have designed and facilitated strategy retreats for teams. I have analyzed and reflected current state impact data back to organizations, and I have led organizations through strategic visioning processes to craft their ideal impact story. I have designed and executed focus groups and surveys to help organizations better understand their constituents’ needs. I am leading multiple external evaluations to bolster the impact story organizations have for their community partners and funders. 

While this work is grounded in data, the approach is bridge building every step of the way. I get to know the team first. Who are my clients as people and as a collective? What are the unique identities, perspectives, and lived experiences they are bringing to the conversation? How can we center their wisdom and expertise in the process? If people trust me as a decent human who cares about them and the change work they are doing, then they are more open with me not just about the data but what might be getting in the way of the data sensemaking and storytelling.

First, how does that land with you? What resonates? What are you curious about? 

Second, my ask: Do you know a changemaking organization that could benefit from the work I do and the way I do my work? My dream client? An organization seeking to make the world better and thinks data is important for their work, even if they don’t know how to use their data in optimal ways yet. My dream next step? Being hired as a Chief Impact Officer so I can do this work full time in an organization, plant roots, and help make meaningful, lasting, change for the organization and the world. Fill in the contact us form on this website so we can connect. I can’t wait to hear from you. Take good care in the meantime, good human. Here’s to welcoming in all the new energy of this season.