{"id":52,"date":"2024-08-21T12:16:10","date_gmt":"2024-08-21T12:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/born.atlasendeavors.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/about-us-2\/"},"modified":"2025-07-09T14:48:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T14:48:08","slug":"about-us-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/born.atlasendeavors.com\/wordpress\/about-us-2\/","title":{"rendered":"About Cheryl"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Author. Certified Coach. Catalytic Speaker.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Helping you nurture inner connectedness.
Strengthening community interconnectedness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Founder and Managing Partner, BornWilder LLC<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

My work is built upon my story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, I want to help others feel less alone and live their version of their best lives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/a>, 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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Professional Bio<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

<\/i> As an arts and culture community leader in the For Alamance Initiative<\/a>, I trained in The Harwood Institute of Public Innovation’s Catalytic Guide Program<\/a>.
<\/i> I became a Certified Life Coach (CLC) in the Life Purpose Institute<\/a> (LPI) coach training program which is accredited by the International Coaching Federation<\/a> (ICF).
<\/i> 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.
<\/i> 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Author Bio<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Singing Riptide<\/em> (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<\/em> (Press 53)<\/em>\u2014the collection that chronicles the root of Wilder’s shame and how she navigated the immediate aftermath\u2014Singing Riptide<\/em> 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Visit Press Kits for a full-length bio<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Community Leadership<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

<\/i> 2024-26, North Carolina Poetry Society member at large
<\/i> 2022-present, For Alamance Arts & Culture Team co-lead and community guide
<\/i> 2022-24, Burlington Writers Club president
<\/i> 2020-present, Burlington Writers Club student contest co-chair
<\/i> 2020-2024, Waterwheel Review: Literature Without Labels<\/em>, co-founder, webmaster, and editor
<\/i> 2013\u20142018, National History Day, Raleigh, NC, judge, historical papers
<\/i> 2010\u20142013, Floating House Writers, co-founder <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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