Her Story
About Cheryl
Cheryl Deloughery began her career after graduating from Vanderbilt University in 1998 with a civil engineering degree, supported by a military scholarship. She served 24 years in the Air Force, retiring as a colonel, with assignments including ROTC department chair, Pentagon joint basing work, and leadership roles developing training for reserve engineers and the IRT program supporting joint service missions. She holds a professional engineering license and has worked across construction management to program management in critical infrastructure, with experience in Korea, Hawaii, Germany, and other locations. For over four years at Microsoft she has built programs preparing campuses for data center construction. She is active in the Society of American Military Engineers, serving as post president for the local office in Warner Robins, Georgia, and focuses on talent development and leadership mentoring.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Cheryl
01What do you attribute your success to?
I feel very fortunate to have grown up with parents who believed that I could do anything, and but also instilled a solid work ethic. So I would definitely attribute where I am today, to having parents that built me up from a very young age to dream big, to believe, you know, I could achieve more for myself, and whatever it was. But also made sure that I understood the hard work, the sweat equity, you know, that was going to be involved in any path, so I definitely owe so much to my family, and my parents, but my family. I had an amazing support network growing up of grandparents, aunts, uncles, you know, just people that were cheering me on the whole way.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Spend some time connecting with yourself, outside of the noise, understand what it is you want for yourself. And find the people that are going to support you on that journey, that have similar interests, similar drive similar determination. Because your community and your support network is, at the end of the day, nobody gets to a destination on their own. First off, you have to understand yourself, who you are, what your values, what your goals are, but then second, and so important, is to find your community so you can get there together.
03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Looking at how we get our younger generation excited and involved in engineering and STEM careers. Understanding how we apply our STEM careers is necessary because critical infrastructure is so important. We're seeing the need for more electricians, tradespeople because of data centers. The challenge is helping people understand what's behind the lifestyle that we appreciate and what types of careers will help continue to grow our economy and nation. Helping young people connect to jobs, teaching them they are capable, creating patience and managing expectations for building expertise over time like my 28-year career.
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