About Cheryl
Three decades of advocacy for women’s health
Nonprofit leader, community organizer, two-time breast cancer survivor, speaker and author.
BIO
Cheryl Shaw has spent more than thirty years in breast health, humanitarian service and advocacy for Black women’s health.
Her career spans nonprofit leadership, fundraising and partnerships, humanitarian relief and the arts. She has served as executive director of a breast cancer foundation, worked alongside communities rebuilding after disasters around the world, and founded an art gallery of her own. Today she continues her work focused on Black women’s health.
As a community organizer, Cheryl has championed campaigns on breast cancer disparities in underserved communities, including efforts that helped win increased funding for screening. A two-time breast cancer survivor, she founded the Breast Cancer Tribe, an online community for survivors, caregivers and the people who love them.
Her memoir, Thunder Wrapped in Velvet: A Black Woman’s Memoir of Listening, Loss, and Coming Home, arrives in March 2027. She lives in Atlanta, near her daughter and granddaughter.
EXPERIENCE
Leadership and service
NOW
Black Women’s Health Imperative
Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations
Komen Puget Sound Affiliate
Executive Director
Smith Center for Healing and the Arts
Director of Individual and Corporate Giving
United Negro College Fund
Area Director Pacific Northwest Region
ADRA International
Director of Marketing and Development
C Art Gallery
Founder and Owner
The first African American woman–owned art gallery in the Pacific Northwest
CHERYL SPEAKS ON
What People Are Saying
“You are so AMAZING!!! Your story and journey is truly inspiring.”
— ANZHANE S.
“You are such a beautiful woman inside and out...and my hero. ”
— SANDRA M.
“I know you have so much to share not only as a Survivor but also as an Advocate for Survivors!”
— ANDREA C.
“What a gift to the world you are!”
— MARIKO B..
THE STORY BEHIND THE WORK