Cheryl started her career as a journalist at the Pietermaritzburg-based Witness newspaper, was subsequently employed by the South African Press Association and spent two years writing for the Helen Suzman Foundation publication KwaZulu-Natal Briefing. Cheryl has worked independently since November 1999 and registered her own company Profile KwaZulu-Natal cc in 2001.

Since that time Cheryl has been involved in numerous projects and publications. She has been contracted by Oxfam Australia to edit documents and conduct research on food security and HIV and AIDS issues. Cheryl was part of a team that conducted an evaluation for the AIDS Foundation of South Africa and documented work, which was funded through the Foundation, conducted by community-based organisations with HIV and AIDS orphans in three provinces of South Africa.

In November 2007 Cheryl was contracted by the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP)’s Synod of Livingstonia in Malawi to conduct an evaluation of HIV and AIDS work being conducted in the northern part of that country. The project is funded by Oxfam Novib.

Cheryl has recently published articles in Security Focus, a magazine for private security practitioners, and she compiles a weekly feature called Crime Stop which appears in the Mercury and aims to create awareness of safety and security-related trends. She also writes for the Weekend Witness and has published in South African Crime Quarterly, which is produced by the Institute for Security Studies, on two occasions in the past year.

Cheryl co-ordinated the Childline South Africa conference on harmonising law and policy for children held in Cape Town in November 2006 and co-ordinated the StaySafe project which provided information to service providers working with youth as victims or perpetrators of crime.

Cheryl, together with Independent Projects Trust, conducted a safety and security strategic audit for KwaZulu-Natal in 2005/2006 and did research and wrote reports in 2004/2005 for the Jali Commission of Inquiry investigating prisons in South Africa.

In 2006, Cheryl wrote and co-ordinated the publication of Culinary Inspirations, with Meryl’s School of Cooking owner, Meryl Haley. The two authors currently publish a monthly feature in the Weekend Witness. Culinary Inspirations is available in a number of bookshops throughout KwaZulu-Natal.

Cheryl obtained a Bachelor of Arts with majors in Journalism and Media Studies, and English from Rhodes University in 1994 and graduated from the University of South Africa in 1998 with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Communication with a specialisation in Print Media and Journalism. She is currently studying towards a Bachelor of Law (Honours) in Criminology.