About Me
Cheryl McCants is an award-winning marketing and communications professional with more than 20 years of frontline integrated strategic development, corporate communications and marketing experience. Throughout her career as both strategist and spokesperson, she has successfully worked in the real estate development, retail, footwear, telecommunications, nonprofit, and media industries.
Ms. McCants joined VMC Management in the late 80s and supported the organization’s operational, strategic and marketing needs. A licensed real estate sales person, Ms. McCants has first-hand experience as a Site Manager for low-income, subsidized housing and uses this expertise to support VMC’s various site managers in understanding and working through the quagmire associated with balancing on-site maintenance needs, with the heavy demand of paperwork, quality of life issues and regulatory requirements.
Ms. McCants has several years of experience in working with non-profit and for-profit housing boards as they develop short and long-term strategic plans. Her in-depth knowledge of NJHMFA and HUD regulations enables her to work with clients and ensure that all regulatory policies, guidelines and other operational needs are taken care of. Her project management expertise has proven instrumental in assisting management teams and boards of directors in developing strategic plans that are reasonable, measurable, executable and attainable. She is also an integral player in the company’s training development programs as she has spent several years as a trainer and an instructor.
Ms. McCants’ last corporate assignment was as Vice President of Marketing & Brand Management for Girl Scouts of the USA in New York City. In this role she was strategist and key architect in the re-branding and re-positioning of an organization comprised of approximately 3 million girl and adult members. Prior to joining Girl Scouts, Ms. McCants was a key architect in the rebuilding of the Converse brand’s marketing & communications department; she developed a strategic communications plan for Ashley Stewart, a national women’s specialty retail chain, to open more than 200 doors over a five-year period; she saved approximately $1 million in operating expenses by assisting Odyssey Couleur magazine, a start-up publication, develop and implement effective operational policies and procedures over a six-month period; and she also worked with the Ms. Foundation for Women where she developed a comprehensive media relations plan for Take Our Daughters And Sons To Work®, a national educational initiative.
Ms. McCants is a member of the Writer’s Guild of America East, the National Association of Minorities in Communications and the National Association of Black Journalists. A former talk show host and moderator, Ms. McCants has also received a CAPE award for “Best New Program”, Woman of the Week Talk Show. A graduate of Brown University, Ms. McCants holds two bachelor’s degrees –Business Economics and Organizational Behavior & Management. In addition to her Master’s of Science degree from The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, she also holds a Master’s of Arts degree in Project Management from George Washington University. Fluent in Spanish, Ms. McCants has studied and lived in Colombia, South America. She currently resides in Bloomfield, NJ.
