Breakfast Speakers

Cheryl Sesnon
The Power of One, The Power of Many:
Using Your Support Systems to Reach Your Dreams

One of the absolute best things about scoring a run in baseball are the whoops, cheers and congratulatory high-fives that await you as you pass home plate and return to your team. The moment is even sweeter when you savor how far you’ve come – the refinement of your skills, a growth in confidence, and even greater physical strength. But if you were to stop for a second and ponder how you got there, would you attribute any of your success to the fact that your coach and team simply expected it of you?

Playing as if you were a team of one can limit your success, Cheryl Sesnon will tell you. As the Executive Director of Washington Community Alliance for Self-Help (CASH), Cheryl experiences first-hand how the power of a support system can move people forward. Washington CASH is a non-profit organization that provides loans and business development training to low-income entrepreneurs. Through peer support groups, clients of CASH have access to opportunities such as feedback, coaching, brainstorming, and accountability checks which Cheryl sees as key to a person’s success.

No matter where you start, if you have the will to achieve your dream, there are people all around you that can help you accomplish your goals. You already know the power of one. Come experience the power of many.

Biographical Information about Cheryl Sesnon: 

From 1994 to 2000, Cheryl Sesnon was the Executive Director of FareStart, a nationally-acclaimed job training program serving homeless men and women. Following FareStart, she spent seven years as a nonprofit consultant and trainer, working locally, nationally, and internationally with the Social Investors Forum, Seattle Jobs Initiative, United Way of Seattle/King County, Casey Family Programs, and many others. She joined the microenterprise nonprofit Washington Community Alliance for Self-Help (CASH) as Executive Director in 2007.

A one-time catering and cake decorating business owner, Cheryl received her Master's in Nonprofit Leadership from Seattle University, where she now serves as an adjunct professor, teaching strategic planning for nonprofits and public organizations as well as nonprofit business enterprise courses. She also volunteers with Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos (NPH), teaching in orphanages throughout Central America.

Past WBE Breakfast Speakers