On April 1, Cheryl Magazine celebrated its first official year in the print industry as a credible publication and media source.
Cheryl Magazine began as a conversation between two longtime friends discussing elevating The Cheryl Brand Newsletter. Multi-bestselling, award-winning author, award-winning filmmaker and executive producer, global business leader, and now editor-in-chief of Cheryl Magazine, Cheryl Polote Williamson; and Traci Henderson Smith, writer, bestselling co-author, entertainment manager, and event producer, met about taking the newsletter content and overall look to the next level.
Henderson Smith, now cover director and managing editor of the magazine many are calling a work of art, got to work creating a four-page digital publication highlighting the great work Polote Williamson is doing all over the country.
Cheryl Magazine is Inspiration for the Everyday Woman. For one full year in print, Cheryl Magazine famously labored to shine a light on the works of phenomenal women. Cheryl Magazine’s claim is they ‘lift the voices of capable, daring, inspiring, yet unsung women who spark change on the local, national, and global levels.’ “We are inspiration for the everyday woman,” says Polote Williamson. “We introduce great women the world may not know about, like Ann Berry, the first African American woman to sit as the 34th Secretary of the United States Senate; CEOs like Stevie Swain of Swain Consulting, the largest African American female-owned Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) processing company in the Midwest; and other women leaders in business, media, and entertainment, philanthropy, and community. And we do it in excellence. The magazine is gorgeous, and it feels like velvet.”
Cheryl Magazine provided a spectacular virtual 3D experience to hundreds of participants able to move throughout the virtual space going from table to table, mixing, mingling, and networking. Some caught the virtual elevator to different floors, visited the virtual bar, shopped in the virtual marketplace, and everyone grabbed their virtual swag bag. Guests were forewarned, Cheryl Magazine told viewers, “We’re virtual, but we’re fabulous. Show up dressed.” And they did! Viewers around the world sat online in sequins and jewels. Many also hit the dance floor in their homes as the grand, in-person, VIP experience held at Emmy Award-winning The Black Academy of Arts and Letters (TBAAL) also streamed live.
Attending the in-person VIP experience was the first issue cover girl deputy city manager of Dallas (former city manager chief of staff) and entrepreneur Kimberly Bizor Tolbert, fall 2021 cover girl Stevie Swain of Swain Consulting, 2022 anniversary issue cover girl Jasmine Sanders, adoption advocate and co-host of The DL Hughley Show and DL Hughley Uncut, and Williamson Media Group President, Russell Williamson, Sr. among a host of other esteemed guests. Comedic relief provided by Comedian A-Train, spins by DJ Oxygen from Bad Boy Entertainment, musical performances by Key Le Blanc.
