We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Cheryl Carter. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Chery below.
Cheryl, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?
Resilience – My father was a welder and my mother a stay-at-home mother. No one was college educated in my circle of grandparents, aunts, uncles except one Aunt. Aunt Mary, aka Dr Mary Reed, was the first woman superintendent of education in California and taught at USC. She was muscling through in a male dominated field but she never saw herself as female vs male. Mary viewed herself as an equal having to work a little harder and was very matter of fact about where she stood. I found her interesting, confident, rational and courageous. I knew then I wanted what she possessed and that required a college education.
I graduated high school aged 16. We had no money for education so I started waitressing night shifts to buy a car and fund my college tuition, That first year I decided I needed to be fluent in Spanish and signed up for a summer abroad immersion in Madrid, Spain.. I saved the money and in 1976 spent 3 months in Spain. The culture shock, change in dialect and aloneness I felt knocked me for a loop. What was I thinking? The experience was glorious and painful and everything in between. I knew then I could be resourceful and get through anything I put my mind to.
When I returned home I moved out on my own and continued waitressing, got a job on campus at the school newspaper and immersed myself into a business degree while keeping up with my language studies. While I excelled in other courses, calculus and statistics were not my strength. I failed calculus and took it over, I hired tutors, stalked my instructors for extra help. When I passed these courses, again my ability to conquer great challenge reinforced my resiliency.
It took me 6 years to obtain my degree, working lots of hours, supporting myself, but the pride of accomplishment was an experience I wouldn’t trade for all the moments of despair that came up. I have been careful as a parent to not “overprovide” and allow my children to fund parts of their education so they were invested. It created a strong work ethic in me and I see it in the careers of my girls. I know without a doubt they have the ability to take care of themselves and dependent on no one. This by far has been my greatest success.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
With the intent of going into International Business for a career, my first job was market research for businesses wishing to open internationally. An investor approached me about opening an authentic Southern BBQ restaurant. In the early 80’s there was only one chain serving BBQ but they didn’t smoke their meats, they oven baked. The authentic BBQ’s were small mom and pops.
It looked like a viable concept and the investor invited me to put it together and run the business . I figured it would be a great business opportunity and I’d just get it up and running and move on to my international interests. Forty years later and I’ve had a magnificent career growing the restaurant business. The experience provided me creativity, financial freedom, endless challenges and opportunities to grow as a leader and master of my craft. I love cooking, recipe creation, leading a team and I adore bringing people together over a communal table. I’m serving 3rd and 4th generations of guests. We expanded to 4 restaurants employing 155 people, and the challenges of creating systems, training and building a team, developing their individual skills sets was enormously satisfying.
Changes in the industry, recession and Covid had their effects and I presently operate one restaurant, my original location in Long Beach. I continue to be an active presence in the business.
What I would want you to know most about our brand is that we are authentic, we produce our food from scratch, using authentic recipes, we smoke meats over hardwood, we treat our guests and our employees like family. The majority of our staff has been with the organization ranging from 15 to 25 years. We have always maintained a low turnover in an industry where turn over can run 155%. We treat our guests with genuine Southern hospitality and are grateful and they return again and again.
I’ve taken my passion for food to the non-profit world and work simply providing meals for those in need to training Indigenous Mayan women in Guatemala basic sanitation and safety, vegan and gluten free menus and everything in between. I serve on the Board of Local Hope, Guatemala. I have just started an online business selling Boho Jean Jackets embellished with Mayan Weavings, Threads World Collective, where a portion of each sale will go back to this Mayan community.
My most gratifying current project is called Culinary Adventures where I teach 9-13 year olds cooking skills. I tie my recipes and explorations of food to coordinate with their Social Science curriculum. This is a pilot program I wish to expand.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
I would have to say my biggest quality was “never giving up”. If I didn’t know it (and there was a lot I didn’t know), I made it my mission to learn it. And as you state in your name, be “BOLD”. Developing one’s expertise requires optimism and an appreciation of failure and mistakes. Experience is a great teacher. Maintain a light heart and keep self-judgement to a minimum, it is not helpful. Ask for help to learn what you don’t know, here is where “boldness” comes into play. I asked for people to teach me every step of the way and continue to do so. I got some “no’s” but I received infinitely more “yes’s”.
“Being in the trenches vs knowing when to stand back and keep your hands out.”
I feel being hands on in my business deeply informed me and provided empathy. Knowing what it feels like to operate at every level, do every job made me a better leader and earned respect. On the flip side, I had to learn to step aside and empower others to make decisions, to make errors, to develop their own confidence in honing their skills and owning it.
Self Care. I didn’t do enough of this. I had to get sick before I would step away. If you don’t step back, burn out is inevitable, your ability to see clearly or optimally reduces. Your lack of well-being can negatively impact others. It also doesn’t provide a good role model for those around you. Encourage yourself, be realistic about expectations, refresh and renew regularly, you are your best and most valuable asset; this mindset enables you to go the distance
Before we go, maybe you can tell us a bit about your parents and what you feel was the most impactful thing they did for you?
I didn’t come from a background endowed with resources but my parents were great role models. I learned early if I wanted something, I had to work for it. Humble beginnings have kept me humble. My circumstances forced me to make me work hard for what I wanted. Nothing beats the pride and confidence I received from providing this for myself. I really have an appreciation for the impact of education and within reason, it is a non-negotiable for me. I would love to see everyone go to college, not solely for the degree but for the experience of how to think logically, problem solve, how to learn and broaden your horizons.
Both my parents were incredibly generous with their time and limited resources. Generosity and giving back is a core belief. My mother made raising four girls and volunteering her time to non profits, her career. After we left home she went to work as Director of a local non-profit. They were deeply in debt and under her tireless direction grew it into a sustainable success story. All other non-profits had Directors with master’s degrees running them and my mother, Martha with a high school education and a lot of determination for the cause, left this non-profit at 75 years of age, strong, growing and with over a million dollars in the bank.
Contact Info:
- Website: Www.johnnyrebs.com
- Instagram: Johnny Rebs’ True South, Threads World Collective
- Facebook: Johnny Rebs’ True South, Threads World Collective
