My Story

Thanks for clicking over to meet me. My name’s Cherry Woodburn. Chief Paradigm Shifter at Borderless Thinking. Speaker.  Coach, mentor and supporter of women. Funny. Facilitator of learning. Kind. Lover of ideas. Storyteller. Strong. Irreverant.

Through out my life I’ve met impressive women who don’t believe they’re impressive.

• They have a niggling voice inside that tells them their successes were flukes.
• They are weighed down by their detritus of “shoulds” learned early in their lives.
• They lack a wellspring of confidence and don’t advocate for themselves.
• They think that hard work alone will propel them forward & upward in the organization where they work or in their business.
• They have a cause they’re passionate about but aren’t comfortable pushing back against the status quo and standing firm.

It’s time for women to know how impressive and capable they are.

That’s why I design my coaching and my programs to:

• Tap into the mindsets that are holding you back from achieving greater success and influence to make the difference in your work, in the community and in the world that you want.

• Include skill-learning and practice in negotiating for the policy changes or work-life balance or career advances you want

• Role play the tough conversations and handle conflicts in ways that maintain your relationships and achieve the outcomes you want

• And much, much more….

The Hot Mommas^® Project

My belief in women mentoring other women is why I’m active in The Hot Mommas^® Project, whose mission is to increase self-efficacy in women and girls by providing scalable, global, free access to role models online. Their long term vision is to create the world’s largest free and online case study library combining the worlds of social media, curriculum and role models in a real-time, interactive learning community. Don’t be fooled by the name. That is to reach through the noise of today’s social media and grab the attention of students. The Hot Mommas Project mean business, and has the results, supporters, and accolades to prove it. It’s an award-winning women’s leadership program housed at the George Washington University School of Business.

A Peek Into What Made Me Who I Am Today

I was a shy kid.

My mom told me that even as a young child I understood when someone was joking and loved to giggle and laugh.

But I was frightened of trying new things. Each year before the start of the new school year (and even into the school year) I’d cry and beg to stay home. Yet, I was a smart kid and the lessons came easily.

Poor mom, she’d enroll me in activities, creative programs where I could have learned what I liked but I cried my way out of those.

Things improved as I grew older, at least in terms of my outer “mask”. But inside I was still a frightened kid who didn’t believe in herself very much.

I came of age during the Women’s Movement.

I joined NOW, attended women’s consciousness raising groups, went to rallies and marched. I volunteered for the Rape Crisis Council (RCC) and learned I couldn’t handle working the Hotline; I became too emotionally involved. So the RCC asked “Would you be willing to go into the community and become a speaker?” “Sure,” I replied, “I’ll try anything.”

At my first presentation I couldn’t breathe for the first three sentences but then relaxed and found my natural speaking rhythm. Stories became the emotional connection to the audience, the way to convey the message. I came to love telling stories. And stories came to inform my training and consulting business. I facilitated change management for mom & pop organizations as well as Fortune 100 companies. The work required an understanding of the power of people’s resistance to change and the need for people to have flexibility within a structured approach.

My process improvement and change management consulting work expanded into speaking at conferences across North America. The reviews were great but I wasn’t speaking about what I love. However, I was a single parent of two sons and needed the good income. Now Seth and Aaron are on their own and pursuing their dreams. Good for them and good for me! I felt secure in changing the direction of my business to my life-long passion: helping women believe in themselves in order to reach their dreams.

My programs, workshops, speaking gigs and retreats are designed for you to make the mindset shifts necessary to being a leader who will take a firm position on what you believe in and to ask for what you want.

Combining mindset changes with skills learning in conflict resolution, negotiation, and inquiry are paramount to the success you want as a woman leader.

Want more info? Click here and you’ll get a response within 48 hours.