Biography

Cherie believes books saved her life. A Master’s student in the URI Graduate Program for English, she holds an M.B.A. (URI, 2020) and graduates from the M.A. in Education in Fall 2020, having focused her research on creative writing programs.

Cherie’s hometown is Birmingham, England where she completed her B.A. in English in 1995. Her various areas of expertise in education include teaching, administration, and she has held a number of leadership positions. She has taught English and Drama for various populations; high school, K-12 and, adults at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.  

Cherie has a passion for performance and making theatre accessible for her community. For fifteen years, she volunteered with the Crescent Theatre Company, Birmingham; acting, directing, and as Treasurer. On moving to Newport, Rhode Island in 2016, she continued her love of performance and has played Polonius in ‘Hamlet’(2017), Mrs. Muller in Doubt (2018), and directed ‘Tuesdays With Morrie’ (2019). She is currently working on a public humanities theatrical project for Aquidneck Island. 

At URI, Cherie’s research interests include creative writing: how it heals, how it is experienced by non-traditional students, and how it is practiced. Her work in progress is a multi-generational novel, set in a post-Windrush Britain. It explores a surrealist (de/re)construction of female identity through art history and poetics of space with the realism of racism, sexual and domestic violence. 

Cherie loves the beach, Dorothy Parker’s cocktails, and taking her cat, Yin, for walks on his leash.