Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Cher Anderton. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Cher, thanks for joining us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

My mission is to provide products and services that help individuals and organizations embrace discomfort to experience more calm and confidence when navigating tricky life stuff.

I used to work in education and I was noticing that we were expecting more from elementary aged kids than the adults had the skill, will and/or capacity to give themselves. We wanted 5 year olds to make repairs when hurt or harm had occurred yet the adult stuff were gossiping or icing out colleagues instead of leaning into the discomfort of having hard conversations. What I came to understand is that people (adults and kids) will do well if they CAN. Meaning if they have the social emotional skills to be kind, inclusive, relational, mentally/emotionally well they would be! Many of us are missing the crucial social emotional fluency needed to do well and be well.

After leaving a school building and moving into educational consulting along with my therapy practice, I coached and trained hundreds of educators in developing the skills to be well so they can show up differently and better for kids. I’ve landed on several tools and strategies that can help everyone build Self-Awareness, Self-Management, Make Responsible Decisions, Social Awareness and Healthy Relationships. It’s not rocket science but it’s a missing link I often see because we pay more attention to the symptoms of unskilledness versus what people actually need to get at the root cause of the issues we see in society and communities.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’m a History Buff, Mom of Four, and Discomfort Seeker. My journey from being a highly anxious, reactive Type A person who avoided discomfort at all costs to actively seeking it out with calm and confidence has been an incredible journey that I invite others to embark on. I’ve discovered that some of life’s most beautiful and life-changing moments stem from embracing discomfort.

As a mental health therapist, author, speaker, and coach, I have firsthand experience of the detrimental impact discomfort can have on our well-being when we lack the necessary skills and mindset. My mission is to empower individuals to transform these challenging moments into sources of strength, fostering greater calm and confidence in both work and personal life.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I had a really secure full time job as an elementary school counselor but I felt that I wanted to work more with the adults to develop their skill set to create safer spaces for kids. I took a leap and went into educational consulting while running my private therapy practice. This pivot in career and leap into less financial security and less certainty was huge for me and very scary at first. I learned so much about myself and how to trust myself to lean into hard things and come out with some bumps and bruises but also stronger and wiser.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I partnered with someone a few years ago – we built a really beautiful and purposeful business together and things were going so well – it was practically self-sufficient and was really successful. Out of nowhere (literally two days before she had told me she wanted to grow the business) she tells me she doesn’t want to partner with anyone and she also wanted to take our product and sell it on her own with no royalties to me, yet 70% of the product was my IP. We had to work with lawyers for almost a year and ended up dissolving the business in the way I had suggested in the beginning (we each take what was ours when we created the business) and it was one of the toughest years of my life. I was really knocked flat and had to do a lot of leveling up in my skill set in order to heal and grow from the experience. I then leaned into writing a book that included all of my IP to further protect it and came out stronger than ever.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.cheranderton.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cheranderton/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cheranderton-publicspeaker-coach/