Cherie Johnson; Turning life experiences into leadership qualities

BY SIMONE J. SMITH

Welcome back readers to part two of the incredible story of Cherie Lavana Johnson, a young woman who took the pain from her youth and transformed it into something beautiful and inspiring. For those who missed last week, I am going to do two things: give you a very brief update on what you have missed and also provide some corrections that were personally relayed to me this week.

I met Cherie Lavana Johnson at the Jamaica Diaspora Conference, which I attended in mid-June. She was there to be presented with the Governor – General Achievement Award for the Diaspora, which is one of the most esteemed awards that you can receive. Upon meeting Cherie, we formed a very unique bond, and this allowed her to share with me some parts of her life that many would keep hidden. Cherie gave me a call from Columbia because she wanted me to correct a few things about the story. The first thing I must note is that it was not Cherie’s mom who was in and out of prison, it was Cherie’s dad who was. Cherie’s mom went to prison once and was then deported back to Jamaica. This is why she had spent so much time by herself, and then began her career as a drug dealer. Another minor correction is that Cherie was born in South East London; this had to be corrected because she wants to ensure that she always represents where she is from.

When we left off, Cherie had just had her daughter and knew that it was time to make some changes in her life. She did not get a chance to finish high school, but she had been selected for a program that would give her the credits needed to attend post-secondary. She had to take a test, and failed the math part of it; when she was given a second chance to do the test, she realized that it was the exact same test.  She had been left alone in the room, so to ensure she passed this time, she called her friends to help her with the answers. She was successful and completed a three-year post-graduate course, which included one year in college. From here, Cherie’s rise inclined rapidly and steadily. She began to work at the National Probation Office and her role was to assist in working with offenders in helping with their rehabilitation; their goal is to help victims by changing lives. While working there, she learned how to build support packages for people who were reintegrating into society.

She took this new skill into her position at Eve’s House, a refuge for women where she provided support to women and their children. In three months, she was promoted to a senior position, but she was not getting the same pay as the social workers that were also doing her job. She realized at that point that she would have to get her credentials up, so she applied to four different Universities hoping to get her diploma. You can imagine her disappointment when not one school accepted her; it didn’t help that she had a sister who would remind her how stupid she was and continuously reinforce her of her lack of worth. What her sister didn’t realize was that Cherie was using all of this for fuel, and what a blaze it was going to be.

Cherie went ahead and completed some conditional courses, which would help her get into University, and wouldn’t you know it when she re-applied, Cherie got accepted to all four of her selected Universities. After all that work, Cherie graduated with her Social Work Diploma but decided that social work was not for her. When reading this, you have to remember that Cherie is also a young mom, and she had vowed to put her daughter before anything. Nothing could come before her daughter, not even money.

After speaking to one of her earlier mentors, she realized that the only way to really live in her purpose was to share her truth and serve those in the community who had experienced a lifestyle like her own. She began to actively work with youth, especially high profile gang members. If anyone understood that a person could change if given the right support, it was she. What made it easy for Cherie was that she could relate to the youth; she was able to relate to their life stories, and speak their language. This opened up trust between her and the youth in the community; they could see with their own eyes someone who had faced the same trials and tribulations they had and had overcome to live an extremely fabulous life. For most of our youth seeing is believing, so Cherie consciously showed her community her lifestyle and proved that it was attainable, it would just take some hard work.

“Turn your life experience into leadership quality.” (Cherie Johnson)

Cherie has successfully contributed to her community by being a role model to those in her life, and to the women who may have given up. One of her programs works with the top women offenders in the UK. It is a 16-week program that includes 5–10 hours of contact with the offender each week. The program has 14 key areas that must be passed, and the women who Cherie works with have a pass rate of 9 out of the 14 key areas. This is possible because Cherie pushes for excellence, especially with the women she works with. She works directly with the prisons, and assists in teaching offenders and provides moral support. Cherie has been honoured with the: Honourable Civic Award, Business Woman of the Year Award, and the Entrepreneur of the Year Award. It was such a pleasure sitting down with this young lady; the Toronto Caribbean Newspaper will continue to follow your rise, and we will meet you there at the top.