As President and CEO of Women Employed, Cherita leads an organization that, for more than five decades, has been dedicated to establishing equity for women in the workforce. From the recent Paid Leave for All Workers Act, salary transparency law, and No Salary History in Illinois, to fair scheduling and protection from workplace harassment, Women Employed has been at the forefront of proposing, enacting, and shaping policies that improve the economic status and security of women. Cherita is boldly driving WE’s current focus on growing the economic power of women, with a particular focus on closing the wealth gap at the intersection of gender and race.

Before joining Women Employed, Cherita led business operations and communications as Executive Vice President for Skills for Chicagoland’s Future. She has also served as the VP of Marketing and Membership for the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago, and later as the Executive Director of the South Side and Wabash YMCAs where she focused on health disparities in the African-American community.

Cherita serves as Chair of the City of Chicago’s Mayor’s Advisory Council on Women, Chair of the Illinois Labor Advisory Board, and Co-Chair for the Board of Directors for Family Values at Work. She recently served on the Illinois Board of Higher Education Commission on Equitable Public University Funding, the Illinois Governor’s Commission on Workforce Access and Equity, Mayor Johnson’s Transition Subcommittee on Workers’ Rights and Labor, and the City of Chicago’s Advisory Group for the Chicago Resilient Communities Fund. Cherita holds an executive MBA from The University of Notre Dame, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Speech Communications from Illinois State University.

Cherita believes that her purpose is to use her time, talent, and treasure helping the most marginalized gain self-sufficiency and full agency over their lives. She draws much of her passion from her lived experience as a caregiver to her mother, and as a single mom who is proud to see her now fully launched daughter living by a spirit and purpose of service.