Cheryl Huff

Photo of my mother before her cancer. (Her Facebook (Cheryl Huff))

The world gained a fantastic human being; this fantastic human being just so happens to be my mother, Cheryl Huff. Professor, leader, role model, and mother, she has affected the lives of many people all around the world. She radiates bravery, leadership, and intelligence enough to inspire those around her to do well and never give up on their life goals.

Born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, my mother proceeded to move often in her childhood since her father was in the Air Force during the Vietnam War. She lived with her mother, her two older brothers, and her one younger brother (along with the occasional visit home from her father). As a child she found that when she was reading, her brothers would leave her alone and not bother her - so she read a lot during her childhood. This is what inspired her interest in education and intelligence.

As a teen, her first job was scooping ice cream at Martell's Pavilion in Pt. Pleasant NJ. She then went on to work at many other jobs, such as a waitress at the pizzeria her parents owned in Normandy Beach, NJ, a headhunter in wall street, a chef and caterer, a antique store, a fabric store, and she sold advertising space in Ms. Magazine and The Atlantic Monthly. Through all these jobs, she learned to be brave and how to take chances in your life as long as you are doing what you love.

Photo of my mother after her cancer. (fredericksburg.com (Robert A. Martin))

At forty-one years old, she gave birth to me in Annapolis, Maryland, when she was attending St. John's College to earn a Master of Arts in Liberal Arts. My biological father did not live with us, and she did not marry my stepfather until I was 14. We moved many times in my childhood from Maryland to North Carolina, North Carolina to Scotland, where she went to St. Andrews University School of English and got a Master of Letters in Shakespeare Studies, then back to NC, Scotland, NC, and last but not least Virginia. Being a single mother for the vast majority of my childhood, while travelling cross continental, gave her the skills to be a leader.