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D. Cherelle

@masteratwhatido

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👶NY 🏠MD 🧞‍♀️HTX
🔺Poli-Sci |MBA| CFO
💎It’s possible to come back!
🤑Biz 💳 🔌 @businesssquaredllc
🤕Resilience Speaker @dcherelle__
😷HealR @healapreneur

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I was just wondering? by @masteratwhatido

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a day ago

Some costs are easy to see. Others quietly shape the decisions we make with money, business, relationships, and opportunity.

The Invisible Cost is about the ones we don’t always know how to name.

The financial decisions we make are rarely just about numbers.

What has avoidance cost you?

📚 The Invisible Cost by @masteratwhatido

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5 days ago

Q4 is here.

Not just another quarter to push harder. A chance to ask a better question:

What has to change for the next version of your business to actually hold the growth you want?

Maybe it’s stronger cash flow.
Better financial visibility.
More profitable revenue.
Clearer systems.
Less owner dependency.

Because the habits and systems that helped you survive one stage of business may not be enough to help you scale the next.

This quarter, I’m focused on building the capacity to hold what’s next.

From survival to scale.

#FromSurvivalToScale #ThinkLikeACFO #FinancialStrategy #FounderGrowth #FinTraum by @masteratwhatido

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12 days ago

More revenue doesn’t automatically mean more freedom.

You can have more customers, a growing team, and record-breaking sales and STILL be the person holding every piece of your business together.

And that’s where we need to talk about the difference between growth and sustainability.

If your cash flow isn’t improving, every major decision still requires your approval, and taking time away means coming back to chaos, your business may be growing faster than its financial and operational capacity.

That’s why financial strategy is about more than increasing revenue.

It’s about strengthening profitability, creating predictable cash flow, building financial systems, and reducing owner dependency so your business has the capacity to support its next level.

Whether you’re preparing for growth or trying to sustain the growth you’ve already achieved, the goal isn’t simply to build a bigger business.

It’s to build a business that gives you the freedom to enjoy what you’ve created.

So, founders, which of these three signs are you working on as we enter Q4? 👀

#ThinkLikeACFO #FromSurvivalToScale #FounderFreedom #FinancialStrategy #FinTraum taken in Santa Monica,C.A. by @masteratwhatido

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15 days ago

Survival got you here. But what will it take to scale?

After an incredible week at the @visionariesonline Conference in Los Angeles, I’m bringing one of our biggest conversations into Q4.

So many founders have mastered the art of figuring it out. Making the sale. Finding the money. Solving the problem. Being EVERYTHING their business needs.

Some are ready to grow but haven’t built the financial systems to support it.

Others are already growing, but their operations haven’t caught up. Revenue is increasing, yet every major decision, expense and operational challenge still runs through the owner.

Both face the same critical question:

Does your business have the financial and operational capacity to support where you’re trying to go?

During my From Survival to Scale workshop, we explored what it takes to close that gap.

Financial visibility that informs decisions. Cash-flow planning that supports growth. Revenue strategies grounded in profitability. Systems that reduce owner dependency. And a business model designed for sustainability.

Because increasing revenue is one thing. Building a business capable of sustaining and scaling that revenue is another.

As we enter Q4, ask yourself:

What needs to change in your business today to support the growth you want tomorrow?

#FromSurvivalToScale #ThinkLikeACFO #FounderFinances #BusinessGrowth #FinTraum taken in The LINE Los Angeles by @masteratwhatido

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16 days ago

The other night, I finally watched my TEDx talk all the way through.

And I didn’t watch it alone.

About a dozen people joined virtually, and another dozen or so were in the room with me.

I cried.

Not because the moment was perfect.

Because it was real.

This idea has lived with me for a long time. I’ve taught around it, written around it, built around it, and carried parts of it quietly while I waited for the talk to finally become public.

Last night, I got to watch people experience it in real time.

The reactions.
The questions.
The conversations.
The moments when something landed differently for someone else.

That meant more to me than I expected.

The talk is about financial trauma, pressure, fear, fantasy, reality, sustainability, and the decisions we make when all of those things collide.

But last night reminded me of something even bigger:

Ideas become more powerful when they become conversations.

Thank you to everyone who showed up in the room and online.

This was special.

#TEDxSpeaker #FinancialReality #FinancialConfidence #FinancialTrauma #FounderFinances taken in Tulsa, Oklahoma by @masteratwhatido

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25 days ago

I'm so excited to share that I've been selected for the 2026 Google Data Center Community AI Fellowship, powered by Watson Institute!
I'm joining a network of leaders scaling local, AI-driven solutions, while learning from exceptional mentors and speakers - including Kevin Koidl, Sarah Windrum, and Rania Hoteit - whose expertise spans impact, technology, and AI.
I'm looking forward to connecting with other local leaders leveraging AI and technology to scale inclusive, local solutions in the Google Data Center Communities we call home across the US, England, the Netherlands, and Finland
Google Data Center Community AI Fellowship Alumni have gone on to create 1,316 paid jobs, raise $41.5M in capital that they've reinvested into their local solutions, and positively impact 13.1M lives. I am thrilled and grateful to be part of this incredible community of impact.
Thank you to Google’s Economic and Community Development Team for championing the impact of leaders like me through the Google Data Center Community AI Fellowship! taken in Tulsa, Oklahoma by @masteratwhatido

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a month ago

There are moments that change the way you understand fear, pressure, safety and decision-making.

For me, this was one of them.

Years later, I would eventually have language for what I was experiencing and for the way pressure can narrow what we believe is possible financially, professionally and personally.

That became part of the foundation for my TEDx talk.

Financial Reality.
Fear vs. Fantasy.
The Probability Pause.
Sustainability.

Over the next few weeks, I’m going to unpack those ideas more deeply.

Because sometimes what looks like a financial decision on the surface is being shaped by something much deeper underneath.

Content note: intimate partner violence.

#TEDxSpeaker #FinancialReality #FinancialTrauma #FinancialConfidence #FearVsFantasy by @masteratwhatido

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a month ago

Teaching accounting in a jail changed the way I think about financial education.

It reminded me that access to financial knowledge is not evenly distributed.

And that understanding money, business, credit, and financial decision-making can change what people believe is possible for themselves.

That is a big part of why I care so much about this work.

Financial education should not only show up after someone has already built wealth, started a business, or found their way into the right room.

It should be available before that.

In classrooms.
In communities.
In correctional settings.
In entrepreneurship programs.
Anywhere people are making decisions that can shape their financial future.

That is the work.

#FinancialAccess #FinancialConfidence #AccountingEducation #HigherEducation #FinancialEquity by @masteratwhatido

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a month ago

Optimism isn’t the problem. Distortion is.

Fear can make the worst-case scenario feel inevitable.

Fantasy can make the best-case scenario feel guaranteed.

Both can pull you away from what is actually true.

Financial reality asks a different question:

What does the evidence support?

What do I know?
What am I assuming?
What am I afraid of?
What am I hoping for?
What do the numbers actually say?

You can still be hopeful.

You can still be ambitious.

You can still believe something can work.

But hope and belief work better when they are grounded in visibility.

That is where stronger financial decisions start.

This is one of the ideas behind my TEDx talk, and it is exactly the kind of thinking we’re bringing into Financial Reset for Founders on September 22.

#FearVsFantasy #FinancialReality #FinancialConfidence #FinancialVisibility #ThinkLikeACFO by @masteratwhatido

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a month ago

Financial visibility doesn’t mean knowing every number at every moment.

It means being able to answer three basic questions:

Where am I financially?
Where am I trying to go?
What financially separates the two?

That applies whether you make $50,000 or $500,000.

Because making more money does not automatically mean you have more clarity about it.

Visibility gives you a point of reference.
A point of reference gives you better decisions.
And better decisions move you forward.

This is one of the conversations we’ll go deeper into during Financial Reset for Founders on September 22.

#FinancialVisibility #FinancialConfidence #FinancialReality #FounderFinances #FinancialLiteracy taken in Tampa Florida by @masteratwhatido

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a month ago

Financial reality is not punishment. It’s information.

A lot of us know how to keep things moving financially.

We make money.
We pay bills.
We handle what’s urgent.
We keep going.

But financial visibility asks more of us:

What do I actually have?
What do I owe?
What am I saving toward?
What am I investing toward?
What business or lifestyle goals am I trying to reach?
And what am I avoiding because I don’t want to deal with it yet?

The gap between where you are and where you want to be is not proof that you’re failing.

It’s information.

And information gives you a starting point.

Fear can exaggerate the worst-case scenario.
Fantasy can convince you everything will somehow work itself out.

Financial reality asks: what is actually true?

That’s one of the ideas I can finally start unpacking now that my TEDx talk is public — and it’s also part of the work we’ll do inside Financial Reset for Founders on September 22.

#FinancialReality #FinancialVisibility #FinancialConfidence #FinancialTrauma #ThinkLikeACFO taken in Black Wall Street Tulsa by @masteratwhatido

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a month ago