Years ago, when Cheryl Perez was earning a college degree at Ohio University, her parents moved from her hometown of Youngstown to Cleveland.
“I wasn’t 100% on board with that idea. Cleveland was a ‘big city,’ as far as I was concerned. I was terrified. I didn’t want to go to Cleveland on school breaks,” says Perez, who has been a Clevelander for the past 25 years.
It’s safe to say Perez not only overcame her hesitation about the city but became a leader and a role model. Perez was elected board chair of Greater Cleveland Partnership’s (GCP) Council of Smaller Enterprises (COSE) in January. She is the first African American female chair in the organization’s 52-year history. COSE boasts more than 12,000 members and maintains a 31-member board.
“We always say that at COSE we always find the right chair at the right time,” says Megan Kim, COSE executive director and senior vice president, membership development and marketing at GCP. “Cheryl is the exact person we need to help us pivot our brand from an organization that has long been known for discounts and health insurance for small businesses to one that is known for growing small businesses. She also has more energy than any one person is allowed to have.”
Perez is owner/president of Cheryl C. Perez Brand of Companies, which provides consulting, coaching and online training programs to entrepreneurs and business owners who want to move forward. She has built and sold several companies over the past 25 years and has been coaching and training clients for 20.
“Cleveland’s small business community has always been an in-person, hands-on, let’s-get-together-for-coffee-and-networking community. COVID changed all that. My vision for COSE is to make sure we meet the needs of traditional members that we have had for years and years and make sure they are prepared for another pandemic situation if necessary. But we also want to provide education, resources and support for those newer entrepreneurs who are automatically starting an online presence and business,” says Perez, who served as COSE’s vice chair in 2023.
“If you look at the growth of entrepreneurship, black females are a significant segment,” says Kim. “Advocacy is important to COSE and, as a black female entrepreneur, Cheryl has created an audience for us that hasn’t been typical for COSE. We have people now who are looking at her as a role model and also as someone who is a part of their community who understands them.”
Perez says she believes she brings her skills as a strategist to her board leadership, as well as her ability to create and execute game plans that will benefit the organization.
“I’m also structurally oriented,” says Perez. “Efficiency really has to be at the core of small businesses because if you are not efficient, it costs money.
Perez counts one of her weaknesses as lacking patience. But she tries to justify that trait as “just wanting to get a lot done and seeing an impact for our membership.”
She also admits she must learn not “to bite off more” than she can chew. COSE has just completed a strategic plan — the first in seven years — and Perez says she will use the first year of her term to develop those plans while the second year will be focused on “getting them done.”
Look for Perez anywhere in Cleveland where good food, wine and dancing are involved. But she also loves water, and says she doesn’t take advantage of Cleveland’s waterfront as much as she should.
“Yoga. I could do yoga at a beach because I am also relaxation-oriented,” she says.
