Before I Became an Advocate, I Was Someone Who Needed One.

In June 2018, Sheri purchased her first home. For someone who had experienced financial hardship and housing instability, homeownership represented far more than a financial transaction.

It was stability. Independence. Security. And proof that the circumstances of her past did not have to determine the possibilities of her future.

Becoming a homeowner gave Sheri something she had worked extraordinarily hard to achieve: a place to build a stable life for herself and her daughter. It also changed the way she viewed what was possible.

She understood that someone who had experienced bankruptcy and financial hardship could still become a homeowner. She knew because she had done it herself.

But life wasn’t finished testing that belief.

After spending approximately 17 years in hotel and restaurant management, Sheri transitioned into medical billing and coding in late 2018. The opportunity came through someone she trusted deeply: her own therapist.

At the time, Sheri believed she was beginning a new professional chapter—one that would provide a different career path and greater stability for herself and her daughter. Instead, she describes that relationship as one of the most profound betrayals of her life.

According to Sheri’s firsthand account, the therapist she had entrusted with her personal struggles and vulnerabilities manipulated that relationship and used Sheri’s professional credentials in connection with fraudulent health care billing.

The medical practice subsequently became the subject of a federal criminal investigation involving the FBI. The U.S. Department of Justice reported that the practice’s owner was sentenced to seven years in federal prison in October 2022 for defrauding Virginia Medicaid and other health care programs of more than $2 million.

Federal-case source: U.S. Department of Justice, October 25, 2022

For Sheri, the consequences extended far beyond the loss of professional stability. Someone whose responsibility had been to help her navigate difficult circumstances had instead betrayed the very trust that relationship was supposed to protect.

Once again, in her thirties, Sheri faced the prospect of starting over—still raising her daughter without child support, still responsible for providing financial security, and still determined to move forward.

In 2019, she entered the mortgage industry. What began as another unexpected career transition would eventually become something far more meaningful.

Sheri is an undergraduate degree candidate at Harvard University’s Extension School, continuing an educational journey that has spanned approximately 16 years.

For much of that journey, earning a college degree meant balancing academic responsibilities with motherhood, career demands, financial obligations, and the unpredictable realities of life.

In 2021, Sheri renewed her commitment to higher education through Harvard Extension School, a decision that would become deeply meaningful to her personal and professional development.

Her academic studies, including affordable housing development, have strengthened her interest in the policies, financial structures, and institutional decisions that influence access to housing.

For Sheri, education is more than a personal achievement or professional credential. It is an opportunity to better understand complex systems, question where unnecessary barriers exist, and help make information more accessible to the people expected to navigate them.

Sheri founded Boston Atlantic as an independent housing advocacy and education organization shaped by her lived experiences, professional knowledge, and belief that people deserve to be informed, respected, and empowered.

Homeownership is about more than qualifying for a mortgage. It is about understanding the financial decisions involved, recognizing available opportunities, asking meaningful questions, and having access to professionals who respect the responsibility of their roles.

Boston Atlantic exists to make financial literacy more accessible, help people better understand their homeownership options, and encourage real estate and housing professionals to become stronger advocates for the people they serve.

Sheri wants single parents to recognize that homeownership may be possible even when the path seems uncertain. She wants people who have experienced bankruptcy or financial setbacks to understand that there may be opportunities worth exploring. She wants people who have felt powerless, hopeless, or directionless to know that their voices matter.

That is why Boston Atlantic exists.