Sherri Smith

Sherri Smith grew up in a small town near Charlotte, NC. She received a BS in Criminology, Law, and Society from George Mason University and a BS in Biology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Sherri is currently a Program Officer with D.C. Superior Court’s Multi-Door Dispute Resolution Division, where she manages the mediation programs for the Court’s Landlord & Tenant and Probate cases. Sherri, an experienced teacher, joined Negotiation Works in early 2019 as a volunteer instructor. She believes that negotiation skills are a life-changing set of skills that everyone--but especially the most vulnerable people in our communities--should develop.. Sherri has taught Negotiation Works classes at the District Alliance for Safe Housing and for members of The WIRE. She loves helping the participants interact with and internalize the course material, and she finds it particularly rewarding to watch as the lessons resonate with the class participants and they begin strategizing ways to use these skills in their own situations. Sherri equates the ability and willingness to negotiate and advocate for oneself with realized personhood. She hopes that by teaching these skills, we are helping people learn, relearn, or remember that they have worth.