Author. Certified Coach. Catalytic Speaker.
Helping you nurture inner connectedness.
Strengthening community interconnectedness.
Founder and Managing Partner, BornWilder LLC
My work is built upon my story.
When I was twenty years old, I made a grave mistake. I got behind the wheel when I was too drunk to drive, crashed the car into a pole, and spent the night in jail. My friend in the passenger seat was transported to the hospital, waking from a coma four months later with a lifechanging brain injury. I didn’t mean to crash the car. I didn’t mean to hurt anyone. I didn’t mean to. But it didn’t matter. I couldn’t change what happened.
Instead of entering adulthood with excitement and prospect, I set out to understand what living a “good” life meant. Who I thought I was, how I thought to act in society, what I thought my dreams were–all gone. What remained was a rightful feeling of guilt that solidified into a parasitic shame.
Looking back, I see that being a creative person helped me build my life from that moment on. The decades-long quest took me through grief, remorse, and deep self-reflection. Over time, bit by bit and not in a linear fashion (oh, did I fail forward), I fostered acceptance, self-forgiveness, and inner peace.
Today, I want to help others feel less alone and live their version of their best lives.
My first career was in restaurant hospitality where I honed the joyous customer service I bring to my work today. As I transitioned into a second career that better included writing, I started my own business and taught myself web design, working solely in the WordPress CMS system and eventually using the Genesis Framework. Public speaking and coaching are natural extensions to all the work I have done, including as a single mother of my first child and then a stay-at-home mom of twins. At the core, I’m a poet; I don’t fit into neat boxes. I’m also a writer, and yes, writing poetry and prose are different enough to distinguish, at least to me. All of this to say, I bring creative perseverance to my work. I’m also hopelessly optimistic, a big-picture thinker, and energized by introspection.
Professional Bio
As an arts and culture community leader in the For Alamance Initiative, I trained in The Harwood Institute of Public Innovation’s Catalytic Guide Program.
I became a Certified Life Coach (CLC) in the Life Purpose Institute (LPI) coach training program which is accredited by the International Coaching Federation (ICF).
As a single mother and nontraditional student, I earned my BFA in Creative Writing at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and my MFA in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts.
For two years I received mentorship from architect Ligon Flynn as I studied the history of architectural space as his researcher and writer. I’m working on a nonfiction book about the experience.
Author Bio
Singing Riptide (Press 53, Summer 2025) charts Cheryl Wilder’s journey from personal, all-consuming shame; through the intergenerational forgiveness that made self-forgiveness possible; to self-realization and belonging. A companion to Anything That Happens (Press 53)—the collection that chronicles the root of Wilder’s shame and how she navigated the immediate aftermath—Singing Riptide was supported by the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts and Durham Arts Council, local grants administrator.
Community Leadership
2024-26, North Carolina Poetry Society member at large
2022-present, For Alamance Arts & Culture Team co-lead and community guide
2022-24, Burlington Writers Club president
2020-present, Burlington Writers Club student contest co-chair
2020-2024, Waterwheel Review: Literature Without Labels, co-founder, webmaster, and editor
2013—2018, National History Day, Raleigh, NC, judge, historical papers
2010—2013, Floating House Writers, co-founder
