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Capacity Building & Storyselling Strategist

Seattle · Remote

Build the capacity
to deliver.
Make the value clear.

I help organizations build the systems and teams to deliver on their priorities, and shape the story that earns support from boards, donors, partners, and clients. My perspective comes from 20+ years across corporate leadership, nonprofit executive work, and business ownership.

Discuss Working Together  →

I stay through implementation, building with your team until the new way of working holds. Explore Services

Chericka Johnson
20+ Years

Across corporate leadership, nonprofit executive strategy, and business ownership

1.2M+

Global organizational reach at Churchome, where I served as Chief Strategy Officer

85K+

Digital care conversations supported by the Pastor Chat digital care infrastructure I designed and built from scratch

$5.1M

Raised across two Vision Summit retreats whose execution I led

The Connection Across My Work

Corporate leadership. Nonprofit execution.
Business ownership.

Across corporate leadership, nonprofit strategy, and business ownership, I have learned to connect what people believe in with what a team can deliver. I clarify the value, build the operating foundation, and stay close to implementation, from the story people hear to the experience they actually receive.

Corporate

Translate a strategy into market action. Align the message, the team, and the day-to-day execution.

Nonprofit

Connect mission, people, resources, and operations. Make the case for support and build the systems to carry the work.

Business ownership

Shape a clear offer and client journey. Build practical workflows that support the promise you make.

Where Growth Stalls
1

The plan is clear, but the organization cannot carry it yet.

2

The value is real, but nobody can repeat why it matters.

3

You are growing, but the systems and the story have not kept up.

The two-minute Organizational Alignment Assessment helps you reflect on your story, systems, people, and technology, and identify a useful starting point.

Find Your Starting Point
Services

What you can
hire me for.

Build With Chericka brings two disciplines together: the capacity to deliver and the story that earns support. Choose the path that reflects what you are building. New to storyselling? Read how it differs from storytelling.

For Organizations & Community Nonprofits
Capacity Building & Storyselling

Hire me when the priority is clear but the organization cannot carry it yet, or cannot explain it well enough to fund it.

Build the capacity

Clear priorities, roles, and workflows, with change management to help your team put them into practice.

Make the case

A narrative that connects the need, your approach, and the support required.

Most engagements start with a Capacity Diagnostic (2 to 3 weeks), then a Capacity Build (8 to 12 weeks), implemented with your team.

For Community Organizations Executive Partnership Take the Assessment
For Consulting Firms & Partner Teams
Capacity & Storyselling Partner

Add a partner who connects organizational capacity, stakeholder narratives, and implementation within your engagement.

Lead the workstream

Senior implementation support within your scope, team, and client relationship.

Connect the findings to action

Clear recommendations, stakeholder narratives, and a handoff the client can use.

Subcontract or white-label, with a defined scope and a clean handoff to your team.

How Firms Work With Me Capability Statement
For Founders, Experts, and Consultants
Value to Vision

Clarify your value proposition, shape the offer, and bring the story to life in a website. I can lead the build or build and coach alongside you.

Clarify the offer

Turn your experience into a service the right client can understand and buy.

Build it. Learn it.

An AI-assisted website build hosted on Netlify, with coaching available for those who want to learn.

“She is a great coach and strategist and provided me a roadmap to success.”Aharon Goins, Host City Hustle Podcast

Explore Value to Vision
Capacity & Storyselling in Practice

What building it
looks like in practice.

Experience across corporate, nonprofit, and business ownership. See what I built, the role I held, and how capacity and storyselling work together. Explore Selected Case Studies

01 Capacity / Care at Scale
How a Chat Tool Became a Multilingual Care Operation

Global reach did not guarantee that someone asking for help would receive a thoughtful response. Hired to lead a newly created role, I designed and built Pastor Chat’s digital care infrastructure from scratch using Crisp chat technology, creating the workflows, multilingual access, conversation guides, training resources, quality practices, and escalation pathways that equipped 90+ staff members and 30+ volunteers to facilitate 85,000+ practical and spiritual care conversations.

1.2M+
Global organizational reach
85K+
Meaningful conversations
Read the Case Story
02 Capacity / Expansion
Designing a Framework for Expansion

The opportunity was larger than opening new locations. The organization needed a repeatable way to identify demand, move digital interest into local connection, and protect the experience as it expanded. I designed the data-informed lifecycle strategy, decision criteria, and execution framework that helped leadership prioritize 20 major U.S. Markets.

20
Priority markets identified
Framework
Decision criteria and execution plan
Read the Growth Framework
03 Capacity / Volunteers
Turning Volunteer Energy Into Reliable Capacity

Volunteers wanted to contribute, but goodwill alone could not create consistent service. I built the recruitment, role design, training, communication, coaching, and retention systems that gave volunteers clarity, helped staff lead them well, and created dependable capacity through multiple platform redesigns and years of organizational change.

6
Years on executive staff
3
Platform redesigns led
Read the Team Strategy
04 Capacity + Story / Donors
The Retreat Experience That Helped Raise $5.1M

High-capacity supporters did not need another fundraising event. They needed a closer relationship with the mission and the leaders carrying it. Working from the original consultant-designed framework, I led end-to-end execution of subsequent Vision Summits, shaping the donor journey, experience, cross-functional delivery, and follow-through that moved giving from transaction to partnership.

$5.1M
Raised across retreats
2+
Consecutive years
Read the Case
05 Capacity / Role Clarity
Fewer People, Mission Still Moving: Roles Built Around Strengths

Through consecutive reductions in force, which I supported in 2023 and led from 2024 to 2026, I used a strength-based framework to realign roles around each person's highest-value contribution and clarify accountability. With fewer people and resources, the mission kept moving: Pastor Chat, donor engagement, gatherings, and pastoral care, outreach, and financial assistance all continued.

Mission
Kept moving with fewer people
2023–2026
Consecutive reductions in force, supported then led
Read the Full Case
06 Capacity + Story / Sales
Translating Strategy Across Three Markets

Over fourteen years at Philip Morris USA, within the Altria family of companies, I progressed from territory sales leadership in Florida and Texas to regional leadership in Washington. I translated corporate priorities into local action, adapted to each market, and led a team of seven. That experience connects strategy, clear communication, and the daily work of execution.

3
Markets: Florida, Texas, Washington
14
Years in corporate leadership
Read the Go-to-Market Story
07 Capacity + Story / Founder-Built
Building the Offer and the Operation Together

At Love + Leisure, the boutique travel agency I co-founded, I build AI-enabled itinerary workflows, client communication sequences, and booking websites for weddings and group retreats. Business ownership keeps capacity and storyselling connected: the offer must be clear, and the experience must deliver on it.

Founder-Built
Workflows, itineraries, booking sites
Client Journey
From inquiry through delivery
See the AI Transformation Approach
08 Story + Capacity / Client
From Deep Expertise to a Business People Can Hire

Aharon Goins, co-host of the Host City Hustle Podcast and an educator on business funding and business credit, had the expertise. What he needed was a business that showed it. We built his new website and a forward plan for the business, giving him a clear roadmap for what comes next.

Website
Designed and built
Roadmap
Forward plan for the business
See Value to Vision
In Their Words

Hear it from the people it served.

Community Belonging
Isanne's Story. Belonging Across Borders
Care at Scale
Pastor Chat. The Platform That Cared
Volunteer Belonging
Nikki's Story. When Volunteers Belong Too
★★★★★
4.7
Digital Platform Rating
100%
Summit Survey Respondents Would Return
85K+
Care Conversations Facilitated

“The compassion and hope she experienced through Pastor Chat gave her the strength to know God loves her, and she could choose safety for herself and her children.”

Platform User Story, Digital Engagement Platform
Start Here

Find out which problem
is costing you more.

Not sure whether it is a capacity problem or a story problem? Start with the broad assessment. Your results show whether story, systems, people, or technology needs attention first and point you to the right service.

Best Place to Start
Organizational Alignment Assessment

Get a broad view of what is helping or slowing execution across your story, systems, people, and technology. Your scorecard identifies the strongest foundation, the most important gap, and the work that should come next.

  • Story and strategic clarity
  • Systems and operating infrastructure
  • People, ownership, and culture
  • Technology and AI enablement
  • A results-based path to the right offer
Find Your Starting Point
Focused Diagnostic for Nonprofits and Community Organizations
Connection and Retention Diagnostic

See where staff, volunteers, donors, stakeholders, and community members experience real connection and where weak follow-through puts trust and retention at risk.

  • Digital-to-human connection
  • Donor and stakeholder relationships
  • Care and follow-through systems
  • Early signs of disengagement
  • Priorities for stronger retention
Start Your Assessment
Focused Diagnostic for Leaders and Teams
Leadership Trust and Execution Diagnostic

Understand whether candor, decision clarity, ownership, and follow-through are helping your team execute or making every priority depend on you.

  • Candor and productive disagreement
  • Decision and role clarity
  • Ownership and accountability
  • Execution without constant intervention
  • Trust and feedback during change
Start Your Assessment
How the Work Runs

A defined partnership
built to make change hold.

Every engagement follows the same five phases, whether it starts with a Capacity Diagnostic or a full Executive Transformation Partnership. I do not hand your team a strategy deck and step back. I work as an extension of the team, from the first measurement to the handoff.

1. Assess

An agreed diagnostic establishes the starting point for capacity and story.

2. Align

Findings are tested against what your people actually experience.

3. Architect

The system and the story are designed together.

4. Activate

Implementation, coaching, and rollout, with me inside the work.

5. Advance

Review progress against the agreed measures, then equip internal owners for handoff.

Explore Executive Partnership

Focused versions of the same work: Human-Centered AI Transformation  |  AI-Enabled Donor Advancement

Storyselling for Advancement

The Vision Summit,
where mission becomes community.

High-capacity donors do not need another event. They need a story they can see themselves in. The Vision Summit is a signature retreat built around that story: the case for support, the donor journey, and an experience that moves your highest-capacity supporters from transactional giving to genuine partnership.

At Churchome, a consultant designed the original run of show for the first Vision Summit. I took that framework and led end-to-end execution for the following retreats, raising $5.1M across consecutive years. I now bring that execution to mission-driven organizations ready to move their most committed supporters from giving to partnership.

Book a 30-Minute Call →

Prefer to write first? Send a message instead. Looking to strengthen advancement operations year-round, not just at retreat time? See AI-Enabled Donor Advancement.

What It Is
A Signature Donor Retreat

An intimate, premium gathering where the case for support is experienced, not just presented. Not a gala. Not a conference. A retreat that makes the mission feel like theirs.

What I Design
End-to-end retreat strategy, narrative, and execution plan
Donor journey design, from invitation to investment
Case for support, messaging, and investment tiers
Premium experience curation through Love + Leisure
Cross-functional team direction and logistics oversight
Post-retreat follow-through and donor cultivation plan
Proven Results
$5.1M raised across 2 retreats

Post-retreat feedback reported that 100% of respondents would return. The result reflects the combined work of the organization, its leaders, the retreat team, and supporters.

Speaking

Keynotes and
workshops.

Practical talks on capacity building and storyselling, including team execution, donor engagement, and human-centered technology. Shaped for your audience, in person or virtually.

See Speaking Topics

“She has outstanding customer service skills and was so patient throughout the process. I learned so much and she also developed a future plan for me and my business.”

Aharon Goins  ·  Co-host, Host City Hustle Podcast  ·  Build With Chericka Client

“Chericka is a remarkable leader who manages both people and projects with confidence and clear direction, earning trust and respect across the organization. Any organization would be fortunate to have her.”

Judah & Chelsea Smith  ·  Senior Leadership, Churchome
Who I Am
Chericka Johnson

Chericka Johnson, Seattle, WA

Corporate discipline. Nonprofit scale. Founder experience.

I am Chericka Johnson, founder of Build With Chericka. I help organizations build the capacity to deliver on what matters most, and I help founders and experts see the value in their experience, shape it into clear offerings, and use storyselling to explain why their work matters. Either way, I stay involved as the idea becomes a working reality, from the client or stakeholder experience to the systems behind it.

I bring 20+ years across corporate sales, nonprofit strategy, and business ownership. At Philip Morris USA, within the Altria family of companies, I spent fourteen years in sales and regional leadership across three distinct markets. At Churchome, a global nonprofit with a reach of 1.2M+, I served as Chief Strategy Officer, leading strategy, operations, donor development, and finance, and designing and building the digital care infrastructure for Pastor Chat from scratch, a service supporting 85,000+ one-to-one conversations. I also led execution of the Vision Summit donor retreats that helped raise $5.1 million.

My experience also includes managing team and organization-wide budgets through financial pressure. I supported cost reduction and restructuring in 2023, then led those efforts from 2024–2026, guiding teams through changes in staffing and resources.

I co-founded Love + Leisure, a boutique travel agency specializing in destination weddings, group travel, and retreats. Building and running it keeps me grounded in the same decisions I work through with clients: what to offer, how to communicate its value, and how to deliver it well.

For organizations, that means a strategist who builds capacity and the story together. For consulting firms, it means a senior partner who has run the function, not just advised on it. For founders, it means someone who helps you say what your work is worth and then builds what it takes to deliver it.

Capacity, story, or both?

Tell me what you are building, and I will tell you honestly where I would start.

Discuss Working Together
Experience20+ Years across Corporate Sales, Nonprofit Strategy & Business Ownership
CorporatePhilip Morris USA / Altria, 14 Years in Go-to-Market Leadership
Past OrgChief Strategy Officer, Churchome, 6 Years on Executive Staff
FocusCapacity Building & Storyselling
LocationSeattle, WA, Available Remotely
AlsoCo-Founder, Love + Leisure Boutique Travel Agency
Trusted Introductions

Recommend a leader,
organization, or firm.

Know a leader or organization that needs capacity built or a story sharpened, or a consulting firm that needs a senior implementation partner? An introduction is the highest compliment you can give this work.

Make a Referral

The First Step

Start with the
right question.

In about two minutes, the Organizational Alignment Assessment helps you identify where capacity or story may need attention. Choose a focused diagnostic when connection, retention, or leadership trust is the immediate concern.

Take the Organizational Assessment

Connection and Retention Diagnostic  |  Leadership Trust and Execution Diagnostic

Or email hello@buildwithchericka.com to start a conversation.

Existing Clients

Your work
is waiting.

Already working with Chericka? Use the project access page to find your shared portfolio or resources and return to the next step in your engagement.

Project Access

"Enter the project code Chericka shared with you to find your resources."

Enter Your Portal  →

Don't have a code yet? Email Chericka to get started.

Start the Conversation

What needs to move
from idea to execution?

Tell me a little about your organization, firm, or practice and what you are working toward. I read every submission personally and respond within a few days. We will discuss your priorities, scope, and whether working together is the right fit.

Ready to talk now? Book a 30-minute call. Or reach me directly at hello@buildwithchericka.com

Chericka reads every message personally. Your inquiry is used to respond to your request. Privacy details.

✓
Message received.

Thank you for reaching out. Chericka will read your message and respond personally within a few days. In the meantime, take the free Organizational Alignment Assessment to see where your organization stands.

Take the Free Assessment