Facebook Twitter Instagram
    Facebook Twitter Instagram Pinterest
    BAUCE
    SUBSCRIBE
    • Hustle

      5 Entry-Level Careers To Help You Start Working For Tech Companies

      March 31, 2023

      How To Use Artificial Intelligence For Your Small Business

      March 29, 2023

      Life Coach Michelle Blue Shares How BAUCEs Can Build A Purpose Driven Life And Business

      March 28, 2023

      5 Ways to Reduce Burnout While Working From Home

      March 28, 2023

      How To Stay Organized When Hiring New Employees in Your Business

      March 23, 2023
    • Believe

      Can Journaling Really Change Your Life For the Better?

      March 23, 2023

      8 Ways To Get Comfortable In Your Own Skin

      March 1, 2023

      What It Means to Retire as a Self-Made Woman

      January 11, 2023

      Entering Your 30s And Feeling Less Sure Of Yourself Than Ever? Consider This

      November 9, 2022

      10 Ted Talks To Help Black Women Entrepreneurs Grow Their Businesses

      October 14, 2022
    • Earn

      Is Bitcoin A Viable B2B And B2C Payment Method?

      April 1, 2023

      4 Tips for Successful Retirement Planning for Millennials

      March 24, 2023

      These Are The Best Ways to Settle Back Taxes as a Small Business Owner

      March 2, 2023

      5 Ways to Close the Gender Pay Gap in Medicine 

      March 2, 2023

      Shopping for a New House? Here Are 5 Things You Need to Do First

      February 24, 2023
    • Live

      Here Are The Three Best Duvet Cover Materials For Your Home

      April 1, 2023

      Live Your Best Life With These Four Tips

      March 28, 2023

      7 Ways To Manage Your Anxiety In Everyday Life

      March 27, 2023

      Do Hair Relaxer Creams Really Cause Cancer in Black Women?

      March 27, 2023

      Social Media Dating in 2023: Stop Wasting Time and Energy on Bad Dates

      March 23, 2023
    • Profiles

      How Marissa Kearney of Target While Black Is Changing The Black Shopping Experience

      March 8, 2023

      Founder of Black Girl Sunscreen Shontay Lundy Shares How She Built A 7 Figure Business From Scratch

      February 28, 2023

      CEO of 0514 Design Tahiti Spears Partners With Walmart To Highlight Black Excellence For Black History Month

      February 22, 2023

      Beauty Expert Tiara Willis Shares How To Successfully Earn Six Figures As A Beauty Influencer

      February 20, 2023

      Best-Selling Author Nathalie Nicole Smith Shares How To Leverage Your Story To Build A Personal Brand

      February 24, 2023
    • About
      • Advertise
      • Jobs
      • Contact
    BAUCE
    Features

    How Cheryl Grace Built Her Dream Life And How You Can Too

    By Lisa AlleyneMay 18, 20229 Mins Read
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

    It’s a Tuesday evening, around 5:30 pm when Cheryl Grace joins our Zoom meeting.

    I immediately take in her green & black sweater, pink lipstick, and auburn hair – she’s stylish.

    Moreover, her presence has illuminated the virtual room. She smiles, politely greets me, and makes playful banter before we get to business. She’s exactly how the media and those who follow her, describe her.

    Cheryl Grace is a highly sought-after executive coach and speaker committed to helping women achieve their dreams unapologetically at work, in love, and at home.

    “[these areas] go hand in hand,” she says.

    Her ability to coach on home, love, and work comes from personal experiences and 25+ years in corporate America where she was regarded as a powerhouse and a pioneer, who shifted the way the nation regarded Black America’s spending power and cultural influence.

    I’m interviewing Cheryl today to learn about her journey in building her dream life, which she refers to as a life of ‘fabulosity’, and to gather some tips that any woman can use to follow in her footsteps.

    While Cheryl eventually got it all – a great career, a great husband, and a few other items on her vision board like a cottage by the water; her life hasn’t been perfect.

    Like most people, she’s had up and downs in love and her career, but she’s mastered the art of pulling through to get the life she desires.

    Here’s how she’s done it and how you can too.

    Recognizing Her Power

    Cheryl shares that some of the low points in her life include a divorce from her ‘starter husband’ and moments when corporate America stole some of her confidence.

    Both experiences, however, taught her important lessons like remembering who she is, and recognizing her power – tools that have helped her get ahead.

    “While we were going through the divorce, [my starter husband] would send very negative emails,” Cheryl says. “Every time I read one, I didn’t feel good about myself. Then I thought, okay, I can control what I read. So, I stopped reading his emails.”

    At that time, Cheryl realized that she also needed to change her mindset. “Instead of focusing on what I didn’t have, I started focusing on who I was at my core, which was type A personality, and a high achiever.”

    With those simple actions, Cheryl was able to begin her journey to getting the life she wanted.

    If you’re struggling to recognize your power, Cheryl says to banish naysayers to naysayers’-land and begin writing a list of all your achievements.

    “Make a list of everything that you have accomplished in the last month or the last year, or since you got out of college, etc. This gives you the confidence to know what you can do. Show yourself evidence.”

    Cheryl stresses that recognizing your power is foundational to getting the life you dream of.

    “As women, we tend to talk ourselves out of things before anybody else does. That’s why managing negative internal chatter is important. When you’re operating from a point of internal power, you’re not afraid to ask for what you’re worth. You’re not afraid to go after what you say you want.”

    Moving Boldly

    When I ask Cheryl how she got into corporate America she replies, “I got bold.”

    She tells me that she was working for an NGO when she heard about a position at a television station in Chicago, a community affairs position that rarely came about.

    She wanted the job. She says she knew she would be perfect for it. However, by the time she found out about the role, it had been out for months. Realizing that the position would be filled soon she sent a fax to the station in all caps that read:

    STOP! DON’T MAKE ANY HIRING DECISIONS ABOUT THE DIRECTOR OF STATION RELATIONS POSITION BECAUSE I’M THE PERFECT PERSON FOR THE JOB AND YOU HAVEN’T TALKED TO ME YET.

    Cheryl laughs thinking about it.

    The fax was received, and Cheryl was invited to have a quick chat with the general manager who warned her, that two candidates had already been short-listed and the final decision was to be made soon.

    Still, Cheryl was determined to put her best efforts forward. She quickly strategized a way to sway the decision in her favour. She spent the days before her meeting preparing a presentation comparing the radio station to its competitors to show what she was capable of.

    Her strategy worked. After her meeting, she was offered the job, and that was her start in corporate America.

    “I got that job because I got bold. When you have nothing to lose, go for it,” she advises readers.

    Leaning into Fear/Discomfort

    Moving up in corporate America was not as painless as moving into it for Cheryl.

    Cheryl shares that after working for the television station she eventually moved to Nielsen, where she entered as a VP. As she performed well, several positions opened, and her boss encouraged her to apply.

    At first, Cheryl declined. The more senior positions were in other cities and after going through her divorce, Cheryl did not want to uproot her son and move to a place where she did not have support.

    What’s more, Cheryl had some fears related to these positions.

    However, there came a point when her boss told her if she kept passing on opportunities they would stop coming, so Cheryl bit the bullet and took a Senior VP position that was out of her comfort zone.

    “I didn’t feel like I was a good fit,” she says about the job. “I didn’t feel like I fit in.”

    To be successful in the position, Cheryl learned to manage her lack of confidence by identifying where it was coming from. She realized that she feared not understanding the new space she would be working in. She also feared not fitting in, and that she wouldn’t be as smart as her colleagues who had been in the space for a long time.

    When fear is holding you back from an opportunity, Cheryl advises making a list of the things that scare you and then instead of running away, recognize what you have to do to overcome those fears.

    “Buy books or sit down and have informational interviews with people who know the space, and who can fill in knowledge gaps if that’s what it’s going to take to make you a little bit more comfortable,” she says.

    While she did not feel comfortable in that role, she does say that it was the position she learned the most in. In the end, she was glad that she leaned into the discomfort.

    “As women, in particular Black women, we tend to stop ourselves before we even try. I didn’t feel comfortable. So, I wasn’t going to try for it. But it worked out to be one of the best things I’ve done. If I hadn’t had [that role], I never would have started the series of reports on multicultural consumers that is the legacy that I left at Nielsen. So, have faith in yourself.”

    While Cheryl is glad for the experience, she also wasn’t afraid to walk away from the role when she felt it was time to move on.

    She adds that it’s important to speak up when something’s not working for you, “If the company values you, they’ll find something for you. You just have to make sure that you’re over-delivering.”

    Being Intentional

    From working at an NGO to moving up at Nielsen, Cheryl says she was intentional about every step of her path.

    “I made a pact with myself that every four years, I would either move up or out. So, I would either move up at the organization or the company that I was in, or I would go and find someone who wanted to promote me to the next level [somewhere else]. I was very intentional about that. When you get comfortable, that’s when you should be most worried because that’s probably when you are growing the least.”

    For Cheryl, being intentional means planning and taking action to achieve your goals. During our interview, she waves a diary filled with notes at me.

    “I’m the vision board queen,” she says.

    Cheryl creates monthly vision boards that tie back to her annual vision board. Once her vision boards are done, she sets goals to achieve her life of fabulosity. She says when she gets intentional – putting action behind her goals, that’s when things click. Setting deadlines for her goals is a tactic that has helped her push forward when some visions are falling behind.

    She recommends using vision boarding and goal-setting to help you achieve your dream life too.

    Throughout her life, Cheryl has felt that there were times that she needed help reaching her goals but often struggled to find it.

    Wanting to be the resource she wished she had when she was working her way up, Cheryl has left corporate America and is now working as an executive coach.

    When I ask her how coaching makes her feel she tilts her head back and grins.

    “It feels amazing. I can’t stop smiling. When my clients, from entry-level up to EVP and beyond, have success, I feel like I’ve had success. Watching them transition from whatever their confidence gaps or knowledge gaps are, is fulfilling. I don’t feel like I’m working anymore.”

    Cheryl’s coaching focuses on identifying what’s holding her clients back and then working with them to overcome those barriers to achieve their dream life.

    When I ask Cheryl if there’s an ideal client for her program she replies, “Anybody willing to do the work, because it does take work, fabulosity doesn’t happen overnight.”

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email Reddit WhatsApp
    Previous ArticleWhy It’s Important To Look After Your Own Health 
    Next Article Visiting Ft. Lauderdale: A Guide For First-Timers
    Lisa Alleyne

    Lisa Alleyne is an Insights Analyst, Freelance Writer, and Media Entrepreneur. In her spare time, she likes to travel, cook, experiment with content creation, read, and host dinner parties.

    Related Posts

    How Marissa Kearney of Target While Black Is Changing The Black Shopping Experience

    March 8, 2023

    CEO of 0514 Design Tahiti Spears Partners With Walmart To Highlight Black Excellence For Black History Month

    February 22, 2023

    Beauty Expert Tiara Willis Shares How To Successfully Earn Six Figures As A Beauty Influencer

    February 20, 2023
    View 1 Comment

    1 Comment

    1. Linda D Wattley on May 18, 2022 10:38 am

      I found this interview to be quite informative and easy to absorb. Cheryl’s advice and experiences leaves us no excuse to not join her in living our best lives. Lisa Alleyne indeed is a great interviewer. It was as though I was there with her and Cheryl. I just kept reading as though I could actually hear their voices. This was a pleasant read and quite encouraging.

      Reply

    Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

    Your Go-To Resources

    How To Truly Break The Cycle of Debt

    It’s Time To Stop Sleeping On Your Credit Score, Sis – Here’s Why

    These Are 15 of the Highest Paying Careers To Pursue

    15 Good Jobs That Women Can Do From Anywhere Without Experience

    Here’s How To Trick Yourself Into Saving More Money

    Facebook Twitter Instagram Pinterest
    • Advertise
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact
    • Jobs
    © 2023 BAUCE MEDIA LLC

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.