5 minute read
CHERIE JOHNSON
from April 2022 Issue
CHERIE JOHNSON Photo credit: Will Utley Photography
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Q. Thanks for interviewing with us. Tell us who you are and what you do.
A. I am Cherie Johnson. I host a podcast called Cherie‘s world podcast. New episodes come out every Wednesday. I also own a spa in Miami called Kian which stands for Keeping it all-natural. I am a mommy and I have an extraordinarily intelligent seven-year-old little girl. And I happen to be a veteran in the entertainment industry with four decades under my belt best known for my work on TV shows Punky Brewster and family matters.
Q. Who or what motivated you to be the woman you are today?
A. My mother has been my biggest motivation today to be the woman that I am. She taught me how to love myself unapologetically. She also never put any pressure on me as far as acting. She could care less about what I did for a living as long as it was legal, she was proud. My mother taught me to never put mental stock in fame, money, or material because those things didn’t matter. People mattered and being a good person matters. Status and material hold no real net worth when life is over.
As far as the decisions in my career, Cicely Tyson was a huge motivation since I was a small child. She told me that I never had to play a slave because she’d already done that I never had to play Housekeeper because she had already done that and it was important for me to choose characters that would help move black women forward. I never felt that I needed to just portray anything because I needed a job.
Q. Let’s talk about “KIAN” and how it got started?
A. Kian is the brainchild of my business partner Alycia Lerer. Being a former model the way she looks is very important to her. Through a conversation, she became a client of mine. I am a certified nutritionist and after putting her on a meal plan... She decided that I was going to be her business partner. For my birthday she gave me a pair of keys and told me that I was her business partner and we just opened a spa. I love her. That was 4 years ago now. Since then, she’s become a certified wellness coach and we now own our wellness center. www.
Keepingitallnatural.com
Q. What are some goals you want to accomplish for 2022?
A. I always have a huge list of goals that I want to accomplish every year. This year on my list is to help my daughter finish fifth grade. She’s homeschooled and I have been her homeschool teacher for the last year. She will be going to a charter school in the fall. I would like to open up another location for our wellness center. I want to get a distribution deal for a film that I produced that is in post- production right now. I also am looking to purchase another investment property and produce another film before the years are over as well as publish another book.
Q. Tell us more about your podcast “Cherie’s World” and some of the topics you discuss?
A. Courtney Blackmon my CoHost and shows Producer makes sure Cherie’s world podcast talks about everything that’s going on currently in the world as well as give me the opportunity to introduce some of the people that I have known and loved my whole life in a personal light to the world the goal for today’s world podcast is really to humanize the celebrity we are going on our third season with 156 episodes under our belt have gotten a chance to interview some of the most amazing people in business and entertainment like
Big Daddy Kane, Tamar Braxton and Shyheim Franklin from WuTang Cedric Ceballos, The Worldclass Wreckin Cru, J.J. Fad, Dawn from En Vogue, Emmanuel Lewis and so many others…..
Q. What has been the biggest challenge you’ve had in your career?
A. The biggest challenges in my career I have been trying to get from behind the characters that I played as a child. That’s why twenty years ago started producing my own projects.
Q. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?
A. If I could go anywhere in the world that I wanted to go right now I would love to take a tour around the continent of Africa. You hear about Jewish people having their birthright trip. I believe that Black people should have their birthright trip back to Africa and I would love to take my daughter to travel through many of the countries so that she can enjoy the continent of the beginning of all man. I think it’s important for her to know that the Africa she’s watching on American TV is not the true Africa!
Q. Let’s talk about “Advice for my Sistas” and the motivation behind it?
A. Advice for my Sista’s is really a labor of love! When I turned 40 the relationship, I had with myself totally changed. I learned to trust my gut I learned to love myself in a deeper way than I have ever loved myself before and I believe that motherhood was a part of that self-love and there were so many things that I noticed women didn’t talk about in an interest form like pregnancy and childbirth and aftercare for yourself after having a baby I wanted to make sure that I was able to put something down in Writing‘s with my sisters could get that buys from me that I had never gotten from anyone. Writing is my therapy. I am a true introvert, and I don’t speak much off-camera. People have asked me over and over who the true Cherie is. They wanted to share my thoughts and my feelings and for me, communication seems to be easier through writing than speaking so it’s really just a way for me to share myself and my thoughts with my community, my village.
Q. Are you working on any new projects or upcoming events?
A. Unfortunately, all events have been put on hold due to Covid but yes, I am working on some more film projects this year and I have a couple in post- production that I’m hoping that I can get out by the third quarter. I’ve also been working on a book and I pray to have that completed by spring.
Q. Where can the readers follow you?
A. You can find me at my website which is www.Therealcherie.com or all social media is @cheriejohnson75.
