Meet Our Executive Director of Assisted Living and Memory Care

Meet Cherie! Cherie is the Executive Director at Melody Living Lake in the Hills assisted living and memory care. She was born and raised in Illinois and has lived in multiple cities surrounding the greater Chicago area.

Cherie enjoys the shopping that is offered throughout Lake in the Hills when she isn't doing her favorite activity in the area, working at Melody Living.
 
Cherie has two grown-up children; a 21-year-old daughter, Hannah and a 23-year-old son, Garrett.  Her mom and sisters all live within 10 minutes from Cherie so they often spend time together. 

Cherie’s favorite holiday is Thanksgiving! She says she just loves the food. Cherie’s sister hosts dinner at her home, but the whole family spends many hours cooking together which she enjoys very much. Cherie loves the traditions that come with cooking the big meal each year.

Cherie loves to travel to warmer climates for vacation. When she vacations, Cherie enjoys relaxing, listening to music at the beach or pool rather than taking on the bigger tourist sites. This past summer, though, she traveled to Paris and London for her cousin's birthday who lives in London. 35 total relatives from all over the states, including Cherie’s immediate family all gathered in London. She says they had such a great time making wonderful memories and Cherie did enjoy all the sightseeing they were able to do while celebrating.  

 Cherie manages the day-to-day operations in the community with the assistance of the entire team. She shared that she is surrounded by a fabulous team of employees and said, “that’s the only way the community can be successful.”

The managers in each department take their jobs seriously and are so dedicated to the residents, their teams, and the success of this community. Everyone works so well together in order to provide an amazing, warm and friendly home for our residents. She always says, “We work in our residents' home and we are the guests here. We strive to keep our residents safe and happy. Resident’s always come first.”
 
Cherie got her start in senior living as a server at a retirement center when she was in junior high and high school with her friends. She remembers goofing off in the kitchen, but always putting the residents first. Many of the 300 residents eating dinner each night would ask to sit in her or her friends' sections, because they were fast.

They were young and could memorize what each resident’s preferences were. Cherie and her friends would even give the residents extra desserts to take back to their apartments, which was against the rules. 

She loved every minute of it. Cherie figured if the residents loved her and she loved them, it was a match made in heaven and she would work with seniors forever, so that’s exactly what she did. 
 
When Cherie applied to universities, she only applied to schools with well-developed healthcare administration programs. She went to University of Illinois in Urbana and Champaign. Cherie studied Health Administration with a minor certificate in Gerontology and then went on to complete her master's degree at the University of St. Francis in Joliet. Once she completed her two years in that program, she decided to study and take the Nursing Home Administrator exam, and the rest is history.
 
We’re so grateful to have Cherie on our team of experts in senior care here at Melody Living assisted living and memory care in Lake in the Hills. Give us a call today at 847.957.7070 to schedule a tour and discover how you or your loved ones could be living a Life in Harmony™ with Melody Living.