Cherie Phoenix
Cherie Phoenix was reappointed to the State Independent Living Council by Governor Schwarzenegger in late December, 2010. She is the chair of the SILC's Communications & Collaboration Committee and a member of the Executive Committee.
Back home in Ventura County, Cherie is the founder and Executive Director of Life After Brain Injury ("LABI"), an independent living-grounded nonprofit that provides programs and support services for the region's brain injury community. An active volunteer, she is also a member of the California Traumatic Brain Injury Advisory Board; vice president of the Board of Directors of the Independent Living Resource Center; chair of the City of Thousand Oaks Disabled Access Appeals & Advisory Board; and serves on the Ventura County Veterans Employment Committee.
Cherie's professional work with brain injury survivors and her personal experience with depression fuel her goal to raise awareness about the inherent worth of people with disabilities and to eradicate the societal and cultural stigma associated with having a disability.
Cherie lives in Thousand Oaks with her husband and a menagerie of dogs, cats and birds. She has a BA in English from UCLA and is adjusting to the fact that her daughter attends USC. She is pleased that her son now offsets the family's academic rivalry by attending UC Santa Barbara.