Cheryle was born on the South Side of Chicago on January 26, 1965. While still an infant, she moved to Memphis, Tenn., with her mother and father, Charles and Earnestine Robinson. The experiences of her father – and family – in Memphis were to have a lasting impact on Cheryle and her mission in adulthood to secure economic opportunity for everyone.
An accountant and graduate of Ohio State University, Charles Robinson moved his family to Memphis following an offer of employment. When that offer was pulled out from under him upon his arrival, he found himself jobless. As he searched for work, he soon confronted insurmountable obstacles like "we don’t hire blacks here". And so he became an entrepreneur, selling his accounting skills to other small minority businesses. He became an expert resource helping small businesses secure SBA loans and credit, and packaging financial information.
Even at a young age, these experiences taught Cheryle about the struggles people face when they are locked out of the privilege enjoyed by the economic elite. It also taught her the value of persistence. She would later go on to revolutionize the venerable Chicago Urban League with practical solutions to open doors of opportunity for entrepreneurs, the unemployed and underemployed, and families struggling with credit, debt and inadequate education.
Cheryle’s mother taught her the values of family and the love of learning. One of 11 children, Earnestine Rodgers Robinson was her high school valedictorian and the first in her family to attend college, Fisk University. After the sudden death of her father, she was forced to cut her undergraduate education short to help care for her siblings. The only job opportunity open to her in Memphis in the early fifties was housekeeper so she packed her bags and headed north. In Chicago, she continued her education at Northwestern University, met and married Charles, and began their family of five children. Earnestine now enjoys a successful career as an accomplished composer of sacred classical music. Todd, 46, has an MD and Ph.D.; Craig, 42, a laborer and IT entrepreneur; Michelle, 40, a mother of three, graduate of Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism and a former news anchor; and the youngest, Gaius, 37, a pastor of a local church in Memphis and an entrepreneur.
Cheryle also attended Northwestern, earning a B.A. in design. She later attended the Art Institute of Chicago and did graduate work at the University of Memphis.
While at the University of Memphis, Cheryle was sidelined for more than a year by Grave’s disease, a hereditary auto-immune disorder. Like many Americans, Cheryle had no health insurance before discovering she was ill. She had to fight for the coverage she needed. While her health is now restored, this experience gave Cheryle a deep understanding of what it’s like for people who are denied the basic human right of quality and affordable health care.
Cheryle began her professional career at the local public TV and radio station WKNO in Memphis, and soon moved on to National Public Radio in Washington, D.C. There, she quickly rose to the position of Vice President of Corporate Communications and discovered the leadership skills to become a true agent for change. She helped to revitalize the brand and culture at NPR, expanding its mission of fair, impartial and accurate news and analysis to reach a wider audience. Those values of fair, open discourse remain with Cheryle to this day, even as they become less and less evident in today’s handling of public issues by the media at large.
Cheryle returned home to Chicago with her husband, Charles Jackson, during a time of family crisis when her mother-in-law unexpectedly passed away. Even with all her professional and public success, family is a top priority for Cheryle.
Once in Chicago, she went to work for AMTRAK, the public passenger rail corporation, as Regional Vice President of State and Local Affairs. Recognizing the importance of passenger rail to small towns and businesses across Illinois and the nation, she brought new energy and a vision to advance AMTRAK’s mission and policies on behalf of rail consumers. On September 11, 2001, the Chicago AMTRAK operation was the only place in the country moving passengers. Again, Cheryle stepped up to lead, handling communications across the nation and the world during those days of crisis and pain.
It was at AMTRAK that Cheryle learned the failures -- and potential -- of government, and how to successfully build support for and advance policies that serve people. Cheryle’s commitment for change has always been focused on practical results.
While Cheryle never served on a campaign for former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, she was tapped to serve as his press secretary following his inauguration. Like many, she was enthusiastic about his progressive agenda and commitment to change “business as usual” in state government. What she saw, instead, was an ineffective culture focused more on headlines than government, more on personal ambition than public service. Cheryle was frustrated not only by a culture of personal gain but by the ineffectiveness of the governor’s office to bring about real and sustainable progress for the state and its people.
Cheryle left Blagojevich before the completion of his first term to become the President and CEO of the Chicago Urban League. The institution needed to change – to grow with the times – but many urged Cheryle to move slowly. That’s not Cheryle. She said, “I didn’t ask for permission to lead, I just led.”
The Chicago Tribune may have best summed up Cheryle Robinson Jackson’s service at the Chicago Urban League in an editorial:
“As the Chicago Urban League approached its 90th birthday, it was a proud but tired organization. It had just 600 members…There was nothing unique about the League’s mission or message… All that has changed as a revitalized Urban League steams toward its 100th birthday in 2016 with its first female executive officer, Cheryle Jackson, at the helm. [She] has remade the group and given it an urgent mission – economic empowerment. Today, the Urban League has 7,000 members and offers an impressive array of services aimed squarely at unlocking the untapped economic potential of the city’s black population.”
Cheryle Robinson Jackson is a leader, a visionary, an agent of change and a true public servant. She is ready and committed to serve the people of Illinois in the U.S. Senate.
