Cherise was diagnosed with LADA (Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adult) at the age of 23. When she was diagnosed, she was a newlywed and her husband was stationed in Iraq. She was alone and did not know anyone with Type 1 or LADA. She turned to the internet in search for answers and understanding but there wasn’t enough information for people that are living with LADA. A few years after her diagnoses Cherise became insulin dependent and that’s when she found TuDiabetes.org; she realized that wasn’t alone. She found her voice and the voices of others living with all types of diabetes. She began blogging about diabetes in hopes to inspire and help people with diabetes. She started DSMA to bring the community together for a once a week chat about all things diabetes, support, awareness and education as a way to give back to the diabetes community and show how powerful peer support and social media can be for people with diabetes, their family members and other advocates. The twitter chat grew, and the need to reach out to others grew heavy on the organization. In November 2010, DSMA Live: Continuing the Conversation was created, and recently, added DSMA en Vivo and DSMA Live: Parents Talk. November 14, 2010, The Blue Fridays initiative was created to encourage people to wear blue every Friday and on World Diabetes Day to raise awareness for diabetes.

She has worked for Roche Health Solutions/Roche Diabetes Care for the past six years. Cherise joined the Marketing team in January 2017 as a Social Media Marketing Specialist. In August 2019, she joined The diaTribe Foundation team as their first Community Manager where she manages all digital communication channels. In 2021, she joined the board of Children with Diabetes.