Built, Not Broken: The Sherry Murphy Story

Sherry Murphy’s story is one of resilience, reinvention, and refusing to let life define her circumstances. 

Born and raised in Harlem, New York, Sherry grew up in a tough environment with a childhood that could have easily led her down a different path. With brothers who faced jail and drugs, and a home that wasn’t always stable, Sherry made a decision that would change her life forever. After seeing a sign that asked, “Do you want to get away? Do you want to travel?” she joined the Army the same day and left that night — becoming the only female in her platoon and driving a tank. 

But her story doesn’t stop there. 

Sherry shares her journey through working three jobs to raise her children, battling cancer, facing divorce during her illness, and still choosing to live boldly. She has run a half marathon, climbed Mt. Everest through self-training, and built a life centered around people, culture, and travel. 

Her message is powerful and simple:
 “It’s my life.”
And “No solitude — you need somebody.” 

This episode is about perseverance, identity, community, and making the decision to live the life you know you’re supposed to live. 

This is a conversation you don’t want to miss. 

Book your 20 Minute Clarity Conversation with Coach KG Here: https://calendly.com/kgilliam57/clarityconversation

Email Sherry Murphy at: murphy.sherry@hotmail.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:25

Welcome to She Shines Podcast, where women rise, reclaim, and radiate. I'm your host, Karen, Coach KG Gilliam, and this is a space where we have real conversations with real women who have gone through real life and still found a way to shine. One of the things I teach in my coaching and in my clarity reset is that clarity changes things. When you get clear about who you are, what you want, and what you refuse to live with anymore, decisions get easier and your life starts to change. My guest today, Sherry Murphy, had a moment of clarity when she looked in the mirror and said, This is not the life I'm supposed to have. She's a combat army veteran, mother, ultrarunner, cancer survivor, and Mount Everest enthusiast with a relentless passion for solo exploration. You know, and you know, come on, ladies. We don't want to go to the bathroom alone when we're out in a restaurant. But she has a passion to do explorations all by herself. She is driven by passion for discipline, grit, and global exploration. She says that she believes in living life to the fullest. Just tell me I can't, and I will show you I will. From that moment, she made a decision that changed the entire direction of her life. She was born and raised in Harlem, joined the army on the same day she made the decision, becoming the only female in her unit, and she drove a tank. She worked three jobs to raise her children. She battled cancer. She has run a half marathon, a full marathon, and ultra. And she's even climbed Mount Everest. Sherry's story is a story of resilience, determination, and deciding that your life can be different. So, ladies, this conversation is going to inspire you. I'm telling you right now, you are going to laugh, you're going to cry, you are going to take note. More than that, I hope it helps you think about your own life and whether you are living the life you are supposed to live. Please join me in welcoming to our studio, Sherry Murphy.

SPEAKER_04 4:36

There she is.

SPEAKER_01 4:42

We were talking about technology. And as soon as I was bringing you in, I couldn't find the button. Hey Sherry. Hello. Hello. Welcome. Welcome. Thanks so much for accepting our invitation. And we we're just gonna jump right in. How about that? Let's do it. All right, here. All right. Well, first of all, we gotta stop, Cher. Uh-oh. You have a title. You knew I was going here. You have a title under your name of Cocoa Bunny. Yes. Now come on. You've got to tell us the story behind that nickname. Oh my Jesus. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 5:52

So mostly everybody has a nickname. Mostly everybody. I never had one. Mm-hmm. Never like truly had a real nickname. So I I wanted one. So I did the online dating thing, right? And on the online dating thing, you have to come up with it. I'm just like, oh, okay, whatever. So this guy reaches out to me. He's Native American. Long hair, like your natural, just picture Native American dude. He's like 6'3, 6'4, right? So we get to chatting, we meet in person, and he's like, What should I call you? And I looked at him, I said, look here, Pocahontas. I said, I said, you can call me Coco Bunny. Girl, I don't know how it just rolled off my tongue.

SPEAKER_02 6:47

He goes, What did you get from there? I said, Do you not see this melanated skin in here? And I said, I hope you can keep up with me. I just be bouncing around. He was like, oh my Jesus. Yeah, he learned real quick.

SPEAKER_03 7:05

He learned real quick. And then he did it, he did it. He did it. He started, hey Coco Bunny, what's up? And then from there, whenever I didn't want to give up my real name, I'd be like, Coco. They were like, that's your name. I was like, yep. And if you want to, just go ahead and tag on Bunny today. Coco Bunny.

SPEAKER_01 7:28

Girl, I told y'all, I hope y'all are ready. She is gonna make you laugh. And so, you know, we're gonna get serious too. So be ready to maybe shed a few tears. But oh, you know we're not gonna stay there. Because we got the rapid fire round coming after we get through the segment. So, all right, Sherry. So you were born and raised in New York. Paint a picture for us. What was life like growing up for you? Oh, it was very busy.

SPEAKER_03 8:04

So um, I mean, I kind of got to do a little bit of what kids did, but not that much. I was too busy taking care of my half-brother, uh, too busy being a parent to my own mother. Um, and I would say that's that's when I started becoming really creative, uh, figuring out how to problem solve. Uh, because my mom, she would, she would go off and hang out with her girlfriends and won't come back until God knows when. Or she would show up with a different dude. And, you know, somebody had to get my brother ready for school, somebody had to feed him. So it just it just naturally became my job duty at that point to take care of him, right? So um, I ended up having to like take care of her as well. And and that took away from from me being a kid. And so it it was a lot of responsibility. Um, but again, you know, sometimes bad things um can be good things in disguise. Because if it wasn't for that, I would not understand or I wouldn't have that skill of thinking quickly on my feet or problem solving any kind of roadblock that would come up in my life. You know, I'm I I always look back on that and I'm like, okay, this is what I'm faced with. Okay, what's my strategy? What I gotta do here, this is what I gotta do. Because there's times like, so for instance, she didn't pay the rent. I don't know what she did with the damn money. I think she she either God only knows what she did with that money. So so rent wasn't paid. Um, and this guy, I think she owed this guy some money, right? So he shows up to the apartment. Um, and and you know, Harlan, Harlem's not not easy to live in. Like, nobody goes to Harlem to live there. So uh he shows up, he's mad, and he wants his money, and my mom's all just like drugged out or whatever the hell she's on. So I go up to the door because I got my brother, he's crying, he doesn't know what's going on, he's scared. And so I go up to the door and I'm like, Look here, what do you need? And he's like, Where's my blah blah, you know, cussing up the story. Tell that bee to get out here, give me my, you know, and I'm like, look, I got my brother here. You can hear him crying. I don't know what y'all got going on, but it ain't happening here. So I said, I'm gonna need for you to back up, and I'm gonna need for you to take that somewhere else. He said, Well, she owes me some money. I said, I'll get, tell me how much she owes you. And so he told me, I said, Look, at that point, he had he had like pulled out his gun. I said, Yeah, we ain't doing that. I said, give me like five days and I'll get you your money. And he looked at me like, what? I said, Do you want your money or not? I said, give me five days, I'll get you your money. So sure enough, I I I figured it out, you know. I I would babysit, I did this, I sold some stuff, sold my toys and some other stuff. I hustled. I, you know, I was I was I was doing everything. I was like cleaning. There was a lady that lived upstairs. I cleaned for her, and then um the guy downstairs, he needed help, and I go grocery shopping for him. I made that money. I made that money and I told him, Look, I don't know what y'all had going on, but I said, Don't come back here no more. Don't come back here no more. I said, I don't need no trouble. I said, I'm just trying to raise my brother and get the hell up out of here. And he did, he didn't bother us, he didn't, but you know, tried to have a talk with my mom. Yeah, that didn't go well. That didn't go well. So she, you know.

SPEAKER_01 12:38

Well, you know, I I can already tell. I mean, I if many people probably know the environment of Harlem. And you went on a search for your natural father, yeah, and you you did 23andme, and 23andme is sort of like um a discovery of who you are, who your ancestors, and all of that. So, what did that journey teach you about identity and belonging?

SPEAKER_03 13:17

First, it it shocked me. It shocked me. Okay, I wasn't what I thought I was, right? So all that time I'm thinking, oh, I'm part Italian, right? I'm gonna free my brother, my half-brother's Italian. Oh, yes, I'm I'm part Italian. And I'm like, girl, I took Italian in school because I thought I was part Italian. I'm over here, mangiate, motto bene. Um come to find out, no Italian, none whatsoever. No Italian, no Italian, okay, but I found out um a lot of Caribbean, Jamaican, got some uh um Nigerian and Ghana, and then the shop, girl, the shop of my life. I thought about I was like, what? I had to look at that thing again. I said, oh, Irish, German, oh, really? Oh, um, so much dude. So much stuff. But then I took a deep breath and I said, this explains, I think this explains why I'm drawn to certain things and why I fit in in certain places. Like I feel when I'm like going over to Europe, I feel like I'm at home in certain parts of Europe, like like I've been there before. And I I look back at that 23andMe and I said, I bet you that has to, it just has to do with that. And and when I went, so I went on this journey and it took me to Jamaica, it took me to Puerto Rico. Girl, I just oh my gosh, I was I was I was all over the place. Yes, wow, I loved it. It it introduced me to the foods, and I said, Yes. I'm like, my palate loves this.

SPEAKER_01 15:23

Oh my goodness, wow. But again, I just who I am. Yeah, and you embraced who you were, yeah. Um, and then let's see, you had a stepfather, yes, um, and you he and your mom divorced, and he went to Mississippi?

SPEAKER_03 15:49

Yes, he stayed in, they were living in Mississippi, he stayed in Mississippi, and then my mom left and went back to New York.

SPEAKER_01 15:57

Okay, yeah, and there came a time when you went to take care of him. Yeah, yeah. So tell me what what did that do for you? I mean, you didn't find your father, your natural father.

SPEAKER_03 16:22

You know that saying, like things happen for a reason. And so when I look back on it, I really feel like even though I didn't find my biological father, I felt like God was bringing me back to the man who played that part as my father.

SPEAKER_01 16:47

Yes.

unknown 16:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 16:49

And so I was like, okay, I'm I'm trying to reconnect with someone that I can't find, but who's to say that this is not the reconnection that I'm supposed to do, right? So I reached out. It was it and the way it happened was amazing because he him and I had not, I think the last time he saw me is when I, oh my gosh, when I got married. That was the last time he saw me um back in 1999. And wow, um, yeah, yeah. And we reconnected and it was like, and it was weird because we picked up like nothing had ever left off. No time had passed. No time, no time. Like he asked me questions and you know, this and this, but then it was we had a moment where I was, he was, because he was in the military too, he was in the navy, and we had a moment where he was telling me about he was reminiscing, because you know he's older, so he's reminiscing about being over in Europe and blah blah blah, and talking about Greece. And and I said, Greece? You in Greece? And he said, Oh, he's like, it was so long ago. I wish I had pictures, but you know, back then, I said, What part of Greece? And so he said, and I'm scrolling through my phone. So I get up and I go sit beside him. I said, Does this look familiar? And he started to cry. Oh my god. He started to cry because he realized that the places that he had been in the military that I had visited too. Yep. Wow. We had a lot in common. We had both been to Italy, we had both been to Germany, and oh my gosh, I think we stayed up for like, ooh, it was like eight hours just just talking and going back and forth. It's like, oh, you remember? Do they still have the and I said, oh yeah, oh yeah. I said it's still there. Oh man, I remember when blah, blah, blah. And I know that just had to warm his heart.

SPEAKER_01 19:16

Yes. That I and I know when you and I talked, I told you this. I said, what you did for your stepfather was to take care of a man who you had no biological um no genes or anything to that he was not your biological father, but you planted seed when you took care of him. And that seed has to grow. Yeah. And I truly believe, Sherry, that God saw what you did. And I believe in time you will find who your father is or was, because we don't know you know if he's still living, but you will know. You will know. So uh don't ever give up. And uh kudos to you for doing uh what you did to to help your your stepfather.

SPEAKER_03 20:32

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 20:33

Now, Sherry, uh I know you have uh several defining moments in your life, but let's start with the decision that changed everything. You saw a sign that asked, Do you want to get away? Do you want to travel? And you joined the army the same day and left that night. Heck yeah. You didn't have to think about it. No, that is incredible. No, so walk us through that moment.

SPEAKER_03 21:25

So, like I said, living with my mom was difficult. She was a difficult person to live with, and and I just knew that I would say to myself every day, this is not my life, this is not going to be my life. I know God has something greater for me. I felt it in my bones that He had something better for me. And so it just worked out. I walked in to work that day. I was working at a donut shop, and I said, um. Um, yeah, this ain't gonna work out. I saw that I saw that advertisement for the army and I said, Yeah, yeah. And I could just something inside when you hear that voice inside that says, if you need to get away, this is your moment. You the door is open. So either you're gonna go through that damn door or it's gonna close and then you have to wait for the next one. And I said, Oh no, this door ain't closing on me. I got to go. Sure did. I walked up in there and I yeah, I walked up in there and I signed up. I filled out the paperwork. I even tested that same day. I was like, When when we do the test? I need to do the test. And he was like, Oh, okay. And then I said, When do when does the next bus leave? And he's like, Well, there's one tonight. I said, Can I get on it? And he's like, The recruiter was like, You sure you want? I said, Can I get on it? And he was like, Yep, you sure can. I said, Well, I'm gonna need a ride. And so that's what he did. He came and picked me up that night. I was sitting at the kitchen table, and I told my mom that I had joined the army, and she laughed in my face. And my my uh half-brother and my two stepbrothers all they all just laughed, like, yeah, whatever. You ain't doing no army. You can't do that, blah, blah, blah, whatever. But the only person that didn't laugh and didn't say nothing was my stepdad. And he told me when we got back together, he said, Oh, I knew. He said, Oh, I knew. He said, You were the one that was gonna leave first. He said, I knew it. He said, and I told your mom that she ain't coming back here. He said, I can tell you right now, she ain't coming back. And sure enough, that knock came on that door, and I was like, ooh, let me get a I got a backpack. I said, I don't need to take everything, I need to move quick. And that I I didn't look, I didn't cry, I didn't look back. I just told that man, I said, drive.

SPEAKER_01 24:07

Yeah. Sherry, I you know, I laugh not at you. I laugh at myself because I thought I would go in the military. And Sherry, I know you were the only female in your unit and you drove a tank. You know what I would have been? The first private Benjamin. Did you see that movie with Gold? I watched them going up that rope, and I'm like, I can't do that. Oh no. Girl, we wouldn't be side by side. I feel like you know, you would have uh I'm like, we're gonna get through this. I did not join the military because I just could not see myself going through basic training.

SPEAKER_03 25:04

And you know what?

SPEAKER_01 25:06

But you know, basic a lot of people say that same thing, yep. Yeah, and then and they make it. Um, well, I want to say thank you to you for your service. Oh, thank you. Thank you for representing women, yeah. Um, and I'm not mail bashing, we don't mail bash on she shines, but it's about women rising, reclaiming, and radiating. That's it. Yep. And I I just want to pause here for a moment for our listeners. And and if you're hearing Sherry's story, she's talking about something I talk about all the time: clarity. See, clarity is not just knowing what you want, clarity is knowing what you don't want anymore, like Sherry. And clarity is the moment you say, I can't live like this anymore. So would you say, Sherry, that that was a clarity moment for you?

SPEAKER_03 26:19

Most definitely, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:23

And would you say that joining the army that day was not only a clarity moment, but did you now know that your life wasn't going to be the same? Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_03 26:37

I always looked at label saving my life. It did, it saved me. God knows what I don't know. I don't know what route I would have ended up on if I would have stayed where I stayed.

SPEAKER_01 26:52

So it's important to get that clarity. Because, like you said, if you hadn't gotten that clarity, you don't know what your life would have been like. Well, Sherry knows about challenges and she knows about resilience because she had to work three jobs while raising her children. Sherry, where did that determinate? Three jobs? You know, I used to remember my father said three jobs for three people. And you one person and work three jobs. What level of determination came from that?

SPEAKER_03 27:45

I always look back and I always said to myself, and I know I know it might might sound cruel to some people, but for me, it's my life. And I said, I will never be the mother that I had. I'm not that person.

SPEAKER_02 28:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:04

And I love my kids. I think I've always known that I would be a good mother, and and I feel like a true, because anybody, anybody can be a parent, but when you are a mother and you really love your kids, you do anything for them. You always want the best for them, right? You want them to have better than you have. Absolutely. And if if they are trying for something, like my kids all played sports and did things, and and I'm and I told them my one rule was if you put in 100%, I'm gonna put in three. 300, I'm gonna help you. If you got a goal, I'm gonna help you meet that goal. So if that meant me working three jobs, that meant me working three jobs. That's what you gotta do.

SPEAKER_01 28:57

Wow. And you battle another challenge, you battled cancer. And during that time, you told me, when you told your spouse at the time that you had cancer, he left. Yeah. Now you here you are with this incredible life-altering disease. That's a lot for one person to carry. So, what got you through that season?

SPEAKER_03 29:37

Listening to Les Brown and revisiting my childhood, remembering myself, hearing myself, this is not my life. This is not the life for me. This is not what God meant for me to be, right? And I was like, and I also reminded myself, you're a fighter, you've been through worse. You got this. Sometimes you just gotta be your own cheerleader, right? And and plus also thinking about being the mother. I said, oh no, I can't. My my first thought was, I can't leave my kids here with this man. No. No. And that I think that's what truly drove me. And I was like, I gotta be here for them. And my, you know, my daughter was going off to college. Oh no, I gotta be here for that. I gotta see that. I gotta see that through.

SPEAKER_01 30:29

Yeah. So, yeah, such grit, such determination, such resilience, Sherry. Wow. And and we we we're just getting started, ladies. But I hope you are hearing what Sherry is Sherry sharing. That's a tongue twister. What Sherry is sharing with you. So let's talk about how you live boldly, okay? Okay, you ran a half marathon, which, okay, let me let me see if I knew this, is 16k. Is that right? 13 point. Yeah. You ran a full marathon. Uh-huh. That 32K? Right. And I didn't even know it was such a thing. But you ran ultra. What in the world is ultra?

SPEAKER_03 31:42

Anything over a marathon. So anything more than twenty-six point two.

SPEAKER_01 31:52

Wow. And on top of that, you climbed Mount Everest after you trained yourself. So let me tell you what that says. Your mindset, Sherry, is not like the average person. So tell me, how do you mentally prepare for those things?

SPEAKER_03 32:25

I basically I look back at everything that I thought was hard and difficult in my life. And then I also use the voices that told me, oh, you won't be able to do that. You can't do that. You ain't gonna amount to nothing. You ain't nobody. Oh, come on. Right? And then on top of that, and then hearing, hearing from your own family members that, oh, black people don't do that. That's that's that's the thing. Well, let me show you. Let me show you.

SPEAKER_01 33:03

And look at what you've shown them. I I'm curious, what did they ever say anything after? Mm-mm. No. They didn't know what to say, did they?

SPEAKER_03 33:16

Mm-mm. No, I think my mom, when I um I flew through because I had to fly through New York to get to um, I had to fly out of Phoenix into New York, and then from New York um to Qatar, and then from Qatar to Kathmandu. So when I stopped in New York, I had a long layover. So you said, let me go surprise my mom. She had no clue. No clue. So I showed up at her apartment and I told her what I was doing, and she looked at me and she's like, Yeah. Really? Okay. I said, you do know what that is, right? So I, you know, showed her little videos on YouTube, and she said, Oh, okay, if that's what you're gonna do. I said, Yep, that's what I'm gonna do.

SPEAKER_01 34:17

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 34:20

Yeah. And then on top of that, get there, and some girl, some lady from because I'm now remember now, I'm my my trucking company, it's like it's a whole bunch of people, right? And so this lady from the UK, oh well, I don't think black people, I don't know. I've never seen anybody clan, but I say, girl, you don't know me. You don't know what I'm capable of. Wow. We started out with 13 and ended up with two. Everybody else got helicoptered out of there, and she was the first one. And I just looked at her and waited. I'm like, yep, this little black girl. Bye.

SPEAKER_01 35:06

Oh my goodness. You know what she was doing, Sherry? She was putting labels. People love to do that, they love to put labels on people, not knowing them, but based on their perception that, oh, you're black, you can't do that. You who said and they she said it to the wrong one. The wrong one. She said it to Sherry Murphy. Yep. I'm like, please tell me what I can't do. She you love that. She thrives on that, ladies. She thrives on it. Well, Sherry loves people, she loves culture, and she loves travel. So, what has traveling taught you, Sherry, about the world and about yourself?

SPEAKER_03 36:03

I would say I've always loved culture and I've always embraced learning other people's culture. And I I just love it. I love it because there's only so much you're gonna learn watching TV. And that that's no, you need to go immerse yourself in it because majority of the time that you're learning, um, the media lies. The media lies. A lot of people will say, oh, you know, it's they don't like black people over there. I've never had an issue, never had an issue. But wow, when I travel though, it teaches me I'm okay to be by myself, right? Because a lot of people think, oh, you always gotta have somebody. No, it's okay. I enjoy that that time, you know, with myself. Like I do love to travel with friends and family. Like I love that too, but there's times where I'm like, I just need to do this on my own. I need to go here, I need to experience this because I need to feel it the way I need to feel it, you know?

SPEAKER_04 37:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 37:14

And I tend to always, it's always me. You know, anywhere I've gone, I've made friends and I've made connections. And I love, I love that. And so I, you know, travel for me is just it's just making new friendships and and uh some of them just consider themselves family. Like when I went to Puerto Rico, I still, I still stay, they still, I still stay in touch with them. They're like, when you come back, oh, you have to cut, let me know. Blah, blah, blah. I got a house for you. You can stay here at the house. And over there, Jamaica, in Italy. I met this little lady in Italy. I got lost. I couldn't figure out how to get back to my hotel. I couldn't remember the name of my hotel to tell you the truth. Oh, and so she took me, she took me in and I told her she she fixed dinner and everything, and I stayed with her and her little husband. And they when they helped me get to my hotel the next day, um, she gave me this little this little bowl, and I kept that bowl. And she said, You remember this bowl? She said, Because you come back here, you always have family, and we will fill it up with food. Because she said, That's how the Italians are. She's like, We we surround ourselves with food and people. That's love, girl. I still stay in touch with them. Oh I feel like wherever I go, I have family, you know, and who that that is such a blessing. That is such a blessing. Such a blessing. And even when I went to Bali, I met I met a lady in Bali, and she was cleaning homes and she cleaned the Airbnb that estate in. When when you know when Trump got into office, she was worried about me. She was blowing me up. She said, Look here. She said, I don't care. She said, I'm serious. She goes, if you need an out, she said, we will help you get a visa. You fly the hell out. She said, You come here. She said, I've already got people that is that we will claim you as family. And she said, You can live here. I was like, You are you kidding? She said, No, we're not playing. She said, I am not playing. She said, if it gets bad, you just let me know, and you come here. I said, Okay, girl.

SPEAKER_01 39:47

See, I have to say this. People absolutely limit their lives. But you can't blame anybody else. You can't blame anything. You are making the decision to limit your life. The world is limitless. Yes. Experience something new, about that, something different. Whether it's people, whether it's food, whether it's going somewhere you or doing something that you've never done. Yes. That is so important. Yeah. So Sherry is sitting here, and I'm gonna I'm gonna ask her this question. What would you say, Sherry? To the woman listening right now who feels stuck in a life she knows she's not supposed to be living. Because you said to me, no solitude, you need somebody. So why is community so important? And tell what what would you say to that woman?

SPEAKER_03 41:16

I would have to tell her that she is loved and that there is someone out there that can show her that love. Doesn't have to be a man, it could be another another woman, dear sister, best friend, whatever. But you need to find passion. You need to figure out first what are you passionate about? What drives you and what brings life into you? What did you like doing before you hit that moment, right? What was it that what did you sacrifice? What did you give up? Because we all have given up things, but to be able to remember and to return to them, even if it's a form of artwork or dance or whatever, then that'll be your community. Get back to it, find a dance studio, you'll find somebody in there. Get back to dancing. And then God only knows what where that will lead you. You you don't even know where that will lead you, right? You join on Monday, you joined the dance studio by Wednesday, you'd have made a friend by Friday. Now y'all talking about, oh, we should, we should go check out this over here. And then 15 years later, y'all the best of friends, y'all have y'all done had the best memories. And see, that's what I think that's why I I travel. It's because it's the memories. It's the memories that I like to think about, especially when when you're having a rough day. Or when you think you can't do something, you look back and you're like, hold up, hold up. I did that. You say nothing. Right? That's right. Or you just, it's like a deja vu moment. You could be walking and the breeze hits you a certain way. You're like, ooh, that reminds me when I was on that beach in Kabul with all me, my girl, all Lord Jesus, but it will bring you joy and you'll start laughing. That's it. Which means that's it. Which means you'll live longer. You gotta have find joy in something. Find joy in something. Because it's just too much craziness out here right now. No, no, find your peace.

SPEAKER_01 44:00

What you focus on, Sherry, magnifies. So, yeah, like you said, find that joy. You focus on joy, it's going to magnify. But if you're always looking for what's wrong, that's gonna magnify too. Yeah. So all right, Sherry. We've come to the part. And this is Sherry's Rapid Fire Round. And I had to give a name. You know, all the guests that have the Rapid Fire Round, they have a name that's, you know, synonymous to them. So Sherry's is Sherry's summit round. Because she's climbed mountains, literally, and in life. So you ready, Sherry? I'm ready. All right, here we go. Army or civilian life? Army. Ooh. Harlem or anywhere in the world? Anywhere in the world. Mountains or ocean. Ocean. Ooh, she hesitated on that one.

SPEAKER_03 45:26

Yeah, because those are both my dear thing. Both dear to my heart. I know. I know. But I'm a Pisces, so I gotta be, I gotta be in the water.

SPEAKER_01 45:36

I gotta be in the water. All right. Half marathon or tank driving?

SPEAKER_03 45:44

Ooh, tank driving. Ooh. I miss it. I miss it.

SPEAKER_01 45:53

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_03 45:55

I miss it so much.

SPEAKER_01 45:58

All right. This might be a hard one. A book or passport?

SPEAKER_03 46:06

Uger passport. I'll write the book later. Passport.

SPEAKER_01 46:13

Got it. Got it. Give me one word that describes you. Unstoppable.

unknown 46:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 46:25

Oh, I felt that one. I felt that one, Sherry. One word that describes your life journey. Exhilarating. Yes, ma'am. Who has inspired you the most? Oh.

SPEAKER_03 46:51

Can it be two people? Okay. Half and half. I would have to say, I would have to say first. Um my good friend Kendra. If it wasn't for her, she brought me out of some hard places sometimes, just helping me remember who I am and why I love myself so much. Right. Yes. That. And then I would have to say, um, I have to say it has to be Les Brown. It was his motivational speeches that got me through my cancer treatment, that got me, got me through my divorce. And I I still listen to him. I just listened to him the other day when I was sitting there at my new job, and I was like, can you believe it? I said, 20, it's 2026. In 2025, I got let go from my job, lost my girlfriend five days before my birthday, lost a cousin a week after my birthday, and then went to go live with my mother to rekindle, work on that relationship, and she told me, get the f out, and that she didn't care for me. And I thought I had hit my lowest. I thought nobody loved me. I thought I was just like, I said, I'm, I'm nobody cares for me. Nobody wants me. That's what I felt. Nobody wants me. But then I connected to Kendra, and she told me, get back to listening, Les Brown. And I did. And I would talk to her, and I listened to Les Brown. I would talk to her and I listen to Les Brown. And slowly but surely, slowly but surely, I was like, I'm back.

SPEAKER_01 48:51

Hey! She's back. She's back. I'm back. And the the Kendra that she's speaking of will be a guest soon on She Shines. And you do not want to miss that episode. All right, we got a couple more, Sherry. Okay. Favorite place you've traveled? Greece. Oh, yeah, that's on my list too. Oh girl. And what? This is she shines, right? So what makes Sherry shine?

SPEAKER_03 49:36

Happiness and being surrounded by happy, good-hearted people. Because sometimes I've I've learned, sometimes you have to switch it up. Sometimes people, which Kendra has taught me, sometimes people come into your life for a season, and it's okay. It's okay. They did what they needed to do, and then they moved on.

SPEAKER_01 50:01

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_03 50:02

But I've learned to surround myself with people who think like me and who has a heart like me and who are passionate like me because that's what I need to be surrounded by.

SPEAKER_01 50:14

Good people. Yes. And I will share with you. Kendra gave you that first part. But my coach told me that people come into your life for a season. Like you said, and it's it's temporary, it's for a season and then they're gone. But then she told me, people come into your life for a reason. Yeah. You have people that there's a specific reason why they're in your life. But she told me the last part, and I never forgot it. She said, People will come into your life for a lifetime. Yes. Yeah. And you know, even though they may physically depart this life, the essence, the spirit of them will be alive because I can tell you, Sherry, my coach, the essence of her. I lost her during COVID. So the essence of her is with me, and I'm doing exactly what she told me when I laughed. What she told me I would be doing, I'm doing. See. Oh. And that is that that's it. So she's with me for a lifetime. So all right, I have a one more question for you. Okay. When people hear the name Sherry Murphy years from now, what do you want them to remember about how you lived your life?

SPEAKER_03 52:07

I want them to remember that I lived my life with passion. Yeah. Passion and full of love. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 52:21

Yes. Oh, you have touched my heart, Sherry. And for those of you listening, if you are listening to this episode and you feel like Sherry felt when you when she looked into the mirror, and you feel like this is not the life you were supposed to have, this is what I call a clarity moment. And that's exactly why I created the clarity reset and my discovery coaching sessions to help women get clear about who they are, where they're going, and what their next chapter looks like. Because nothing changes until you get clear. And then you got to take action. This is me saying it. Nothing changes until you change your mind. You got to change the mind first. So if you are ready for that next chapter, I want to help you get there. See, this is what I'm doing to pay it forward for what was done to me, for me. And you can schedule a discovery call with me in the link in the show notes. There's a we I call it a clarity conversation. We're just gonna talk. And then we'll see where it will take us. Sherry, I want to thank you from the bottom of my grateful heart. And if a woman who's listening to this says, I need to talk to her, I need to ask her a question. How would you like them to correspond with you?

SPEAKER_03 54:38

They can email me, they can reach out to me. I check my email daily.

SPEAKER_01 54:44

So yes, she does. Yes, I do. So I will put that email in the show notes so you can reach out to Sherry. And for all of you out there, remember this. Always, always keep shining. She Shines is where women rise, reclaim, and radiate. On behalf of me and Sherry and Tiffany, my producer. God bless you and keep shining.

SPEAKER_00 55:37

Will you deliver light or let your spirit break free? You got power inside you, more than you can see. Time to realign, reclaim what's meant to be.