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Meet Cheryl Cooper of The Women’s Empowerment Institute in Alpharetta/Roswell

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Cheryl Cooper.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Born and raised in Colorado. A military ‘brat’. Grow up with an abusive father who served in the Vietnam war and a very strong-willed mother. She’s still very strong today at almost 80. Our lives started in Colorado. We lived in a predominately black neighborhood and I was bused to white schools for education. I was bullied because I was short and had a scar on my face – from scratching my chickenpox when I was two. But like my mother I was (am) strong-willed and I fought the bullies until I gained their respect and became one of the most beloved girls around town. Of course, during that time, I didn’t understand what was going on, I just loved that people wanted to hang out with me! My middle school teacher recommended that I go to leadership camp, I fell in love. During my junior year of high school, my father went on a solo trip to his hometown in Texas and never returned. OMG, this shook our world in so many ways!! He was the family breadwinner as well as the chaos giver. But God….had a plan. While our family experienced several years of transition and transformation, it caused us to grow above and beyond our wildest dreams. My brother continued in his schooling and eventually transferred to one of the prestigious colleges. Mom obtained a degree in Accounting in her 40’s and I started college while working full-time and got my first degree in Accounting. All of that to say, God’s plan took my father away, which removed abuse and chaos from our home and forced us all to excel in our personal lives.

After obtaining my undergrad degree I went to work on a gold mine (yes you read that – a gold mine) in the middle of an Indian Reservation in AZ. You want to talk about life-changing. I was one of a few black women in the small town and the only black woman on the mine site. I experienced racism, sexism and every other kind of discrimination possible. These lessons brought me closer to God and taught me about resilience, faith, and persistence (my personal RFP). After 18 months I decided it was time to get the hell up out of there and moved to Houston where I really started living my adult life. Houston was an awesome experience. I obtained my Executive MBA, fell in love, and started working in the IT world. Life was extraordinary, until…he cheated, I was laid off from IBM and was basically homeless (because my house was rented out).

But God had a plan. I was blessed with an opportunity to become a Management Consultant for Deloitte & Touche’ in Atlanta, GA! Where it just so happens my brother was living. Working for the Big 4 was always a dream for me and with God’s grace and mercy, that dream came true. That career shift moved me to a new city, a new life and a path to healing. It was extraordinary! I traveled the world, Brussels, Japan, and Mexico. I left Deloitte and worked with other consulting firms where I traveled to S. Africa and was blessed to visit shanty towns (where my leadership team of non-black leaders said I couldn’t go). I toured Cape Town with Christian leaders who allowed me to answer yet another one of my greatest prayers. I funded and fed the hungry children in Africa. On Easter Sunday! I met a prophet who read me my life story sharing the past and what my future would be like. He said that God had plans for me to empower women across the world. That was ten years ago. Today I still work in IT consulting (PM/Scrum Master), I’m a certified speaker, trainer and coach with the John Maxwell team AND I am the Founder of The Women’s Empowerment Institute (womensei.com) aka WEI or womensei, a hybrid coaching/training organization which focuses on three pillars; leadership development for all women (and an exclusive program targeted at women of color seeking a seat at the leadership table, called The L3 Academy), entrepreneurship and person growth + self-love (mindset). At womensei, we offer a variety of training/coaching programs, as well as personality assessments, masterminds, one-on-one executive, life and business coaching and so much more.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
No ma’am life hasn’t been easy but it has been blessed.  Loosing my father at the age of 15 was life changing.  It taught myself and family great lesson about overcoming tragedy, transformational living, faith and trust.  Additionally as an adult, while things have been pretty good career wise there have been many time that I just wanted to give up.  But because of my faith I move forward through lay offs, infidelity and workplace stress.

In my adult life, I’ve had much heartache caused by unhealthy self-confidence and poor relationships. But God had a plan. Each time that I’ve struggled with men cheating I’ve taken time for myself to heal. During those times I’ve grown closer to God and my spirituality is rock solid! I love me some GOD.

Overall I’ve had a really good life and have been blessed with meeting some really spectacular people here in the ATL.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with The Women’s Empowerment Institute – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Oh thank you so much!!! That makes my heart smile.   The Women’s Empowerment Institute (womensei.com) aka WEI or womensei, is a hybrid coaching/training organization which focuses on three pillars; #1) leadership development with a target market of women between the ages of 35-60 (and we offer an exclusive/specific program, The L3 Academy which is targeted at women of color who know they need/or want leadership training as well as, a supportive community + coaching) – all women, #2) entrepreneurship development/one-on-one business coaching and my favorite #3) person growth + self love (mindset) – which consists of monthly self help types of challenges (self confidence/courage, happiness, self love, etc,) and mindfulness types of workshops held at Serendipity Labs. Additionally we offer personality assessments, masterminds and each year in October we begin hosting the John Maxwell, Live 2 Lead (L2) simulcast/rebroadcasts.  This years simulcast will be a women’s only event on October 11th at Serendipity Labs.  We know that Rachel Hollis is going to be one of the keynote speakers and it’s going to be off the charts this year.  You can get tickets at Eventbrit

The L3 Academy (Ladies, Leading & Loving It!) is designed to fill a leadership training gap for women of color (all women) and enhance their mindsets for success. L3 Academy is a 6-month online leadership development program designed to help women define their own leadership blueprint. — The program includes but is not limited to:
1) A sisterhood / safe space for women leaders to connect with like-minded women and discuss strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
2) Bi-weekly online mastermind training – using world-class leadership development content
3) Personality assessments to help women better understand who they are and what makes them successful
4) Guest speaker series. Where executive women from a variety of industries come and share their personal journeys and success stories.
5) Discounted tickets for the annual retreats.
Additional services include:
– Executive 1-on-1 coaching (life, business and career)
– Entrepreneurship development workshops & academy’s launching in June 2019

As a certified speaker, trainer and coach with The John Maxwell Team, the leadership workshops are created using John Maxwell’s content + personal experiences from my more than 25 years of working for Fortune 100 companies. John Maxwell is recognized by Inc. Magazine and Guru.com as one of the #1 leadership development experts in the world. Additionally, I put a personal touch of magic on the content to help each person develop their personalized thoughts surrounding leadership, which in turn is designed to help – so they can develop high potential productive teams that are diverse and collaborative.

So, what’s next? Any big plans?
The biggest changes are that we’re growing in leaps & bounds. We want to empower, educate, and train between 100-500 women in the areas of leadership, entrepreneurship and personal growth in 2019-2020. (Sidebar I also have another company CLC Consulting Group – and we work with men & women).

At the beginning of March, The Women’s Empowerment Institute launched the L3 Academy (Ladies, Leading & Loving It!). It is a six-month small group leadership development, coaching, and training program for women of color. The program meets bi-monthly online and includes leadership development trainings, a speaker series, monthly 1-on-1 coaching sessions with me a Certified John Maxwell, Speaker, Trainer and Coach, as well as the benefits of bonding with women that look like you and understand how it feels to be the ONLY ONE at the conference room table, on the project team, in the office, at the dinner table and so on. Y’all know what I’m talking about. This mastermind is created to boost your confidence and empower you with world-class leadership capabilities. We need more women of color in VP and above roles as well as serving on paying Board of Directors! This mastermind is created to build lifelong friendships/networks and grow wealth!

On March 30th, in collaboration with Karla Beedles of K Beedles Consulting, we launched Women Everywhere Level Up and Lead book tour & conference. Tickets can be purchased here: http://bit.ly/2EPS93L.

May 1st a 15 day self confidence and courage empowerment series starts on FB. It’s going to be so much fun! If you’re Interested, register here starting April 20th. (https://www.facebook.com/WomensEmpowermentInstitute/)

June 4th we’ll begin a Think & Grow Rich Mastermind – you can register for this one either on my website (www.womensi.com) or here: http://bit.ly/WEITAGR1.

Starting in November Karla Beedles of K Beedles Consulting and I will collaborate to begin hosting the Live 2 Lead rebroadcasts for local chambers, small businesses, and corporations worldwide (I’m putting that into the atmosphere so my intention can manifest).

To wrap up, I love connecting with women and empowering them in all areas (leadership, entrepreneurship, and personal growth + self-love) – so if you’re interested reach out and let’s connect for a free 30 minute consultations. You can put some time on my calendar here: https://www.womensei.com/contactus/.

Pricing:

  • The L3 Academy introductory pricing is $57/month until May 1, 2019, then it goes to $97/month
  • Mastermind session run between $99-$199 per session all depending on the session and if lunch is offered.
  • 1-on-1 Executive/Life Coaching is $300/month – 2 sessions.

Pricing:

  • The L3 Academy introductory pricing is $57/month until April 1, 2019, then it goes to $99/month
  • Mastermind session run between $99-$199 per session all depending on the session and if lunch is offered.
  • 1-on-1 Executive/Life Coaching is $300/month – 2 sessions.

Contact Info:


Image Credit:
Photo of me standing in orange was taken by Tessa Marie Studios

Getting in touch: VoyageATL is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.

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