Jessica Lerch and Sheila Cherry are researchers/scientists, entrepreneurs, consultants, and writers who know the pleasures and perils of trying to balance professional ambition with personal fulfillment. These co-founders of CareerVolt both hold PhDs and have worked extensively with academic and professional researchers who seek to implement and maintain robust, funded, and impactful research programs. Both Jessica (above left) and Sheila earned their PhDs from Case Western Reserve University in the mid 2000s and went on to postdoctoral training. Jessica then became a university professor in a top-tier research institution, while Sheila started her first company to provide editing and writing support to other researchers.

With these transitions, they both experienced the challenges of needing to perform many diverse roles for which their research training left them little preparation, along with a sense of isolation and overwhelm that sometimes made it difficult to unearth their enthusiasm for the work they had loved. They also recognized that many of their colleagues and clients were experiencing the same challenges, in their early careers—and even as they began to attain their career goals.

In 2019, they joined forces to launch CareerVolt to help busy academics and research professionals gain skills and implement strategies that would allow them to accelerate their careers and research programs—by acquiring funding; publishing their work; and managing their time, personnel, and resources—without feeling isolated and overwhelmed. Through CareerVolt, Jessica and Sheila continue to share knowledge, skills, and strategies that have worked for themselves as well as their many clients around the world. Clients include investigators at all career stages and from a variety of research institutions across the U.S. and beyond, including Harvard, Columbia, Johns Hopkins, the University of California, the University of Southern California, Emory University, and many others.