Cheryl grew up in the Chicago area in the home of hr immigrant grandparents. She later moved to the Pacific Northwest with her parents and siblings. She attended Seattle University for two years and finished her Bachelor of Arts degree at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon. She married her high school sweetheart and raised three children. In 1993, she attended Portland State University for her MSW degree and worked as a social worker for sixteen years at a community mental health facility and in private practice. She divorced after thirty plus years of marriage but has remained on good terms with her ex-husband. She has eight grandchildren. She is in a relationship with another man for the past ten years. This is her first book.