I help people see possibilities and turn them into practical action.

Where It Started

I didn't take the traditional path into engineering. I started waitressing as a teenager, landed a tool and die apprenticeship, and worked my way up from the floor at Ford from there.

That apprenticeship changed everything. I graduated, worked as a journey person for a couple of years, and then a superintendent — someone who saw something in me before I fully saw it in myself — put his name next to mine and opened the door to engineering. I walked through it and never looked back.

That's the difference between someone who gives you advice and someone who changes your trajectory. I've never forgotten it.

The Work That Shaped Me

I came up through the trades at Ford, moved into engineering, and worked my way through gear engineering, tooling and gauging, and multiple management roles. I retired as the Prototype Operations Manager for Powertrain — responsible for transmission, engine, axle, and additive manufacturing.

After Ford, I served as the Global Director of Prototype Operations at American Axle and Manufacturing. Those years inside complex manufacturing organizations taught me how they really work. Not the org chart version. The human version.

The Eight Years in Between

After leaving automotive, I founded and ran an organization that served the automotive industry for eight years. I built programs, ran cohorts, designed curriculum, and worked with senior leaders on culture, leadership, and organizational performance.

That experience gave me something I didn't expect: a deep understanding of how organizations adopt new ways of working and, more importantly, why they resist.

The Shift to AI

In April 2025, I enrolled in an AI boot camp. I completed the full program. Then I went through it again. I joined a weekly mastermind where I continue to learn new skills every single week. And I started building.

I began applying what I learned to real work: preparing for conversations, organizing knowledge, creating learning materials, and making recurring tasks easier to manage. Each useful application helped me see another possibility.

My engineering and leadership experience taught me to ask practical questions. Learning AI gave me new ways to act on them. Through Cheryl Thompson Advisory, I now help people strengthen their capability, reclaim capacity, and keep their own judgment at the center of the work.