Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Cheryl Wood.
Dr. Wood, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
As a young child, I grew up in poverty in an inner-city housing project as the product of a single parent household. When I graduated from high school, I went straight into the workforce to try to pull myself and my mother out of poverty. I landed a job as a receptionist and, over the years, worked my way up to a secretary then an administrative assistant then an executive assistant then a legal secretary. I worked in a secretarial capacity for 15-years, feeling stuck because I didn’t have a college degree to grow beyond that role. Finally, in 2009, I found myself married with three young children and that shifted everything for me. I wanted the time freedom to be fully present and active in my children’s lives. That year, I decided to get my feet wet as an entrepreneur and launched my own inspirational line of mommy t-shirts called Moms R The Best, while still working my full-time corporate job. I would sell my t-shirts at flea markets, conferences, and tradeshows. The business wasn’t massively successful monetarily but it taught me so many valuable lessons that would add great value to my future business. About 18 months later I got a phone call that would shift the trajectory of my life. Someone from Morgan State University called me and asked if I would speak at their annual women’s conference to teach other moms how to start their own businesses.
It was on that day of my first speaking engagement on September 18, 2010, that I discovered I was born to speak. From that moment forward, I made an intentional decision to pursue speaking as a full-time career. For a full year I spoke at no cost for organizations and groups who would allow me to share my message of fearless living. It was my year of experience and exposure. Those opportunities led to me having increased confidence in myself and affirming that I could eventually create a life that I was in love with. I began investing in mastering the art of speaking and my list of clients began to elevate. Ultimately, six years later, I made the decision to walk away from my corporate job and pursue speaking full-time. That decision was scary and uncomfortable but being consistent and sticking with it paid off in the end. Today, I operate a multiple six-figure speaking and coaching business that has positioned me to travel globally to speak into the lives of girls and women including South Africa, India, France, United Kingdom, Canada and the Bahamas. I am an 11x best selling author and I’ve had the opportunity to speak for NASA, the FBI, Verizon, The United Nations, and the U.S. Department of Defense to name a few.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has been a roller coaster ride. There have been insurmountable obstacles, roadblocks, challenges and setbacks. Not to mention having to fight my own fears, insecurities, and self-limiting beliefs. For a long time, I struggled with Imposter Syndrome and not feeling “qualified” to be on stage because I felt a sense of inadequacy about not having enough letters behind my name. Because I didn’t feel qualified, for a long time I didn’t value my offerings and didn’t charge my worth. I had to learn that I was enough and that somebody somewhere was seeking the knowledge I possessed and would be willing to invest in it. In my start-up phase, I had difficulty monetizing my business and had to move past my fears of selling and rejection.
Cheryl Wood Empowers – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
My company, Cheryl Wood Empowers, specializes in empowering and equipping women entrepreneurs with the confidence, tools and strategies to win big in their businesses by unleashing the power of their story and their voice. My company teaches women entrepreneurs not to leave “money on the table” by leveraging public speaking as an added revenue stream.
I am most proud of the countless women’s lives we have transformed all over the world by igniting their belief in themselves, their commitment to leaving their fingerprint on the world, and their ability to create generational wealth.
What sets us apart is our high level of magnetic energy and accountability that causes women to feel a sense of belief in manifesting the dreams they once put on a shelf to collect dust and propels them into action.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
One of the proudest moments of my career was being hired as the Keynote Speaker for NASA in February 2020. It was a “full circle” moment where the woman I was in the past who once felt unqualified to be at the front of the room as an expert now felt fully equipped, qualified, and called! I knew I belonged there and I stood fully in my power in that moment.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://cherylempowers.com
- Phone: 301-395-7589
- Email: info@cherylwoodempowers.com
- Instagram: http://instagram.com/cherylempowers
- Facebook: http://facebook.com/groups/impactnation
- Twitter: http://twitter.com/cherylempowers
- Other:http://linkedin.com/in/cherylempowers
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