Cheri Baugh Woods

I attribute my continued success first and foremost to God - my faith and what I believe my purpose is here on Earth. Staying grounded in my beliefs has been fundamental, and that foundation started with my mom and dad, who instilled faith in me when I was young. My biggest influence has been my parents, and from them came my faith that has continued to build. I also credit my ability to persevere and my desire for lifelong learning, which again came from things I learned from my mom and dad, my brothers, and my family as a whole, along with other mentors and support I've had in the past. Being gracious and humble in all that I do has been important - realizing that everything can be taken from you in a second. I'm just blessed that I have the opportunities I do, and I try to take every opportunity I can to share my story and help others.

The best career advice I've received is to be true to yourself and make sure that you communicate. I think those two things are probably the most important things you can do in anything, not just work. My late husband used to say something that really stuck with me: 'Listen to learn, and learn to listen.' Those are two different things. It's very hard for people to actually listen attentively to learn something, because they're always waiting to say the next thing. That distinction between truly listening to absorb versus just waiting for your turn to speak has been invaluable guidance throughout my career.

I would say go for it! Write your story, know who you are, and know your value. Keep learning and believe in yourself. Build strong relationships and speak up - don't be silent. There are too many people out there who are silent and keeping everything tucked in. Be resilient, especially when going through struggles or just through life in general. Be able to bounce back when there's a setback - that's okay, just go for it. But stay true to your values and your roots. Support each other, and take care of yourself - that's so important. Most importantly, stay true to yourself. The values I mentioned earlier all apply here too: integrity, being responsive and accountable, being respectful, reliability, teamwork, clear and honest communication, excellence in your work, being adaptable and bendable rather than breakable, having a positive attitude, collaborating with others, encouraging them, listening to learn, and having gratitude and courage.

The biggest challenge right now is getting known and having people see who you are. There's a lot of competition with books and people who are writing books, and there are a lot of qualified people out there. So getting yourself into that proper niche and trying to learn where the opportunities and promotions are can be difficult. There's a learning curve with the technical aspects - figuring out where to find a publicist, how to find a publisher, all these different how-tos. Balancing work and life is another challenge, trying to figure out how much time to spend on this work versus other things. Another difficulty is being taken seriously - people wondering if this is just a passing thing or if this is where you're actually going. Especially when making a change from one career to another, like going from education to becoming a speaker and author, people know you in one category, but when you're moving to a new category, you have to set a new precedent of who you are here. There are also self-confidence challenges, questioning 'can I really do this?' And keeping up with rapid changes in technology and AI presents ongoing difficulties in the industry.

Integrity is extremely important to me, along with being responsive and accountable. Treating my coworkers, leaders, and people I work with respect is paramount. Reliability is crucial, as is teamwork - being able to work with other people effectively. Clear and honest communication about what needs to be done or what has to be done is essential. I believe in excellence for myself and excellence for others, maintaining quality in the work I do and expecting from others. Being able to adapt to different things and not being static is important - I always say I'm like an ocean wave, I just kind of go with the flow and move with it. You need to be bendable, not breakable, being able to learn and adjust. Having a positive attitude is key - I go through life that way and live in positivity. I try to look at negative situations and find something positive, asking what I can learn and what lessons I can take from whatever negative situation there is. Collaboration with others is vital, especially meeting the strengths of others and not thinking you have to do it all. In both work and personal life, I focus on encouraging others and being able to listen to them. My late husband used to say 'listen to learn, and learn to listen' - it's very hard for people to actually listen attentively because they're always waiting to say the next thing. Finally, having gratitude and courage rounds out my core values.