Cherie Latson | Academy Instructor: Character Development through Face and Body Painting

Cherie is a DC native who graduated from Duke Ellington School of the Arts with a diploma in Visual Arts. She also earned her Bachelor's degree in Music Education with a concentration in Vocal Music from the University of the District of Columbia and is currently working on her Master's degree in K-12 Education, also at UDC.

After graduating with her Bachelor's degree, Cherie taught voice to elementary school children at the prestigious Levine School of Music. 

Her role at WBL is an instructor of face and body painting for middle and high school students.

Cherie has been developing her visual and musical abilities since she was a small child and joined her first traveling music group at age 8, starting with the Region V(5) Chorus. 

Just after high school, Cherie formed half of the Hip Hop duo known as SitCalm with DC Hip Hop legend, Ardamus, through a poetic and theatrical youth group called Spoken Resistance that formed in 1999. Since then, she has been a part of many artistic collaborations over the years, including her professional Rock and R & B bands, selling paintings, as well as having won poetry slams in Washington, DC. She has also performed as an actress for GALA Theatre and improv comedy for the Atlas Theater.

Since 2019, Cherie has been working as a children's entertainer in the Washington DC, Maryland and Virginia area, starting with her own business called Cherie Elaine Artistry, which includes face painting, balloon twisting and glitter tattooing for various kinds of events.

Cherie's core belief is that art of any kind, be it visual, performance or otherwise, is not just for consumption, but also for creation; art should be accessible to anyone who wants to create and learn about it, as artistic expression is healing, and its inherent value is often overlooked.

She is very pleased to be on board with WBL and looks forward to continuing to help open doors of positive self-discovery for each student by helping them see the artist that already lives within each of them.