About Me | CRW COACHING

About Me

Cheri Reed-Watt is the owner of CRW Coaching & Consulting in Rochester, NY. Cheri's passion, and what she considers key to her success, is building relationships with others first and foremost, in order to better assist them on their journey of becoming who they want to be. She believes in and lives by the saying, "People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care."

Cheri worked in the mental health and substance abuse field for 20+ years in various leadership positions. Most of her career was focused on developing innovative housing programs and services to benefit individuals living with mental health and/or substance use disorders. Over the years, Cheri has had the opportunity to create and lead high performing teams by focusing on each person's strengths and what they can bring to the table. Her belief is that every position and person brings value to the team, and that anyone can lead from where they are. Leadership is not about a title, but all about energy and influence. She is passionate about providing leadership development to under-served populations to assist them with being invited to "the table"so their voices are heard and true change can come about.

Cheri received her B.S. in Psychology from the University at Albany and her M.S. in Strategic Leadership from Roberts Wesleyan. She is also a 2019 graduate of United Way of Greater Rochester's Pride Leadership Development Program, and currently is a member of the Community Advisory Board for the University of Rochester's LGBTQIA+ Health Initiative.

Cheri's Own Story

I grew up in Rochester, NY and graduated from Rush-Henrietta High School in 1988. All I cared about was school and sports. I managed to receive a partial academic and athletic scholarship to play women's basketball in college. I thought I had my life figured out...until I didn't. I had a couple of traumatic events happen and how I chose to deal with them (or not deal with them) changed the trajectory of my life. I also started to realize that I identified as a lesbian, not something that goes over well in an Irish Catholic family, lol. I started to use drugs and alcohol to self-medicate and mask my depression. This would lead to a continued downward spiral over the next few years, which in turn created more trauma and a vicious cycle.

At the age of 27, I decided to deal with all that trauma, focus on healing my wounds and work hard to continuously evolve into a better version of myself each and every day. I made that decision over 24 years ago and I'm still striving, thriving, and reinventing myself.

In order for me to keep growing, I have to get outside my comfort zone and get okay with being uncomfortable. I need "my tribe" to hold me accountable and point out my "blind spots." Oh, and yes, we all have them.

Today I look back and am in awe of how far I've come. How did I get there? By working with someone who would help me identify my strengths, challenges, opportunities, and threats. They would assist me to develop an action plan to get where I wanted to be personally and professionally, and hold me accountable to achieving my goals.

Sounds simple, right? Well, it can be with the assistance of a coach and your willingness and commitment to invest in yourself and do the work. It won't be easy sometimes or a straight path forward, but anything worth having always takes effort.