Her Story
About Sheria
Sheria James is a dynamic marketing strategist and leader whose 15-year career has been shaped by creativity, adaptability, and a passion for creating meaningful brand experiences. After graduating from the University of North Texas with a background spanning Communications and Music Theory, Sheria originally envisioned a career blending her love of storytelling, music, and public relations. Her journey took an unexpected but rewarding turn when she entered the world of experiential marketing, discovering a talent for designing memorable moments that connect people with brands in lasting ways.
Sheria’s career has evolved across agency, corporate, and leadership roles, giving her a unique perspective on both strategy and execution. She began in experiential marketing as a junior account manager before advancing to National Account Manager at Paradigm, where she led large-scale events and managed every detail of the attendee experience. During the shift in the marketing landscape brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, Sheria transitioned into an in-house leadership role as Chief Marketing Officer for a real estate investment company. She later joined Elevate My Brand, where she now serves as Partner and Account Director, guiding teams, developing innovative strategies, and ensuring campaigns are executed with precision. Her approach combines creative thinking, operational excellence, and a belief that successful marketing requires both agility and a deep understanding of people.
Beyond her agency leadership, Sheria is passionate about innovation, community, and the future of marketing. She is a personal investor and founding backer of Foodie Kit, a company focused on transforming food delivery and event experiences by supporting local vendors, simplifying pre-orders, and leveraging AI technology to create more accessible and efficient solutions. Recognized as an Influential Woman representing Texas for 2026, Sheria continues to champion human-centered marketing, encouraging the next generation of leaders to trust their abilities, embrace challenges, and view every career pivot as an opportunity for growth.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Sheria
01What do you attribute your success to?
I honestly attribute my success to being surrounded by people who were really pushing me to take a chance - people who saw the potential in me before I even saw the potential in myself. That support system has been everything. My family being really supportive, being able to have a support system in my friends and family, and then of course being surrounded by people in my church that are kind of along the same age and in the same career, just being able to really vent and shoot ideas off of each other. I think all of those pieces together combined is really what has contributed to my career success. It's about having people around you who believe in you and push you forward.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I've ever received is not to hold onto things and take things so close to you. Sometimes failure happens, but it's not really a failure - it's just a stepping stone to the next thing that's gonna happen. In order to really have a successful career, you have to have those valley moments and those peak moments. The valley moments set you up for the celebratory moments that you get at the mountaintop. You need both the lows and the highs, because the valleys prepare you for the peaks. That perspective has completely changed how I view setbacks in my career.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
The biggest advice I would give is this: it's hard, but don't second-guess yourself. I think the biggest illusion that people have is all the what-ifs - what if this is not right? What if I'm not good enough? What if X, Y, and Z? There's gonna be a million what-ifs in life, but don't put that on yourself because it should not be your burden to carry. If you were made to do what you're doing, if you weren't, you wouldn't be where you are right now. So if you need new skills, if you need whatever, go get them. Go expand your knowledge. Go do whatever you need to do to make sure that those second guesses, those little hidden voices, aren't going to tear you down and take away the confidence that you have. You have the ability to do what you need to do to get the job done. Don't second-guess yourself.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I think it's twofold. The challenge in marketing right now is that everyone wants everything done really fast because marketing is such a fast-moving environment - everything moves at 1,000 miles per hour and you barely have time to slow down. But the opportunity lies in the AI boom we're experiencing. While there is AI looking to supplement some of the jobs that happen in marketing, the opportunity is not only to be a part of that AI boom, but also to recognize that AI cannot be the end-all, be-all. Especially within marketing, you have to have a human touch, you have to have human guidance. The problem with AI is that it doesn't know the brand, it doesn't know who you are, and yes, you can create all these prompts, but it's still gonna be flat for the audience. It's not gonna give you that feeling you get when you see a brilliant marketing campaign. Only a human can do something like that. AI takes from things that already happened, but ideas and new things and that belief and those moments that you get people to feel - those come from a human touch, from human involvement. So the challenge and the opportunity are really about finding that balance between leveraging AI's capabilities while maintaining the irreplaceable human element that makes marketing truly resonate.
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