472- Cheri N Part 1 - Business Professional472- Cheri N Part 1 - Business Professional
Sober Speak- Alcoholics Anonymous Recovery Interviews
Cheri N, a Dallas business professional, talks about quitting alcohol after a Christmas awakening, her DWI, and learning to succeed in business while sober. The conversation touches on AA, anxiety, pride, and rebuilding a fun social life without drinking, with her husband Ben joining in the studio.
1:01:13•30 Oct 2026
Sobriety, Jellyfish Lamps and Closing Deals: Cheri N’s Business Professional Journey
Episode Overview
- Sobriety can strengthen, rather than weaken, a business career and professional networking.
- Years of trying to "drink less" often precede a clear decision to stop drinking entirely.
- AA and a structured programme may ease the anxiety and loneliness of early sobriety.
- Character defects like pride can feel useful in business, yet still block growth in recovery.
- Alternative tools and, when needed, appropriate medication can be part of managing crippling anxiety in recovery.
“I wanted to just drink like a lady... and now that I've been sober for seven years, I ask myself the opposite question, how could I close deals if I was drinking?”
How do individuals turn their lives around after addiction? This conversation follows Cheri Norris from Dallas, a driven business professional who once believed she needed alcohol to close deals, network and "drink like a lady" to fit in. Seven years sober, she now questions, "How could I close deals if I was drinking?" and shares how her thinking flipped over time.
Hosted by John M on Sober Speak, the episode is aimed at people in recovery and especially high-achieving professionals who worry sobriety might cost them their career or social life. Cheri talks candidly about getting a DWI in the middle of the day while running her second-chance staffing agency, Cornbread Hustle, and the shame of being a CEO who secretly drinks around a breathalyser.
She walks through years of resolutions to "drink less" and the Christmas morning when she finally told a jellyfish lamp named "Kirby and Oscar", "I think I'm done drinking." You’ll hear how she tried to stay sober without AA, white-knuckling anxiety and loneliness until an attorney with a glass of water at a networking event led her to the Addison AA group.
Cheri explains why Steps Six and Seven challenged her more than anything else, because pride and other character defects felt tied to her business success. She also opens up about crippling anxiety, her resistance to mental health medication, experimenting with an Alpha-Stim device, and eventually choosing joy over pride. There’s lighter stuff too: her love of Halloween costumes, how she had to pause parties because she couldn’t do them sober at first, and now enjoys them more alcohol-free.
With her husband Ben in the studio, the chat mixes humour, honesty and very real fears about identity, success and sanity without alcohol. If you’ve ever wondered how to stay ambitious and still stay sober, this one could hit close to home and spark a few questions for your own journey.
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