Sheryl Raphael Whitaker

Founder & CEO

Sheryl Raphael Whitaker, MBA, is a Leadership Transformation Expert, bestselling author of It Starts with Joy: The Inner Shift that Changes Everything, and Founder & CEO of EdenAnthony Elite Talent Solutions LLC.

Through her JoyShift™ method and leadership philosophy Joy is my COO™, she helps executives, teams, and organizations move from disconnection and overload to clarity, authenticity, and lasting performance — because lasting excellence is built on human foundations, and joy is the infrastructure most organizations are missing. Sheryl's conviction that leadership begins with protecting joy traces back to age six, when a teacher falsely accused her of breaking a purple crayon and dismissed her classmates' defense — stripping away a reward and marking her as "less than."

As the only child in the room who looked like her, bused into the district with her sister, the moment became the seed for her life's work: helping leaders protect the dignity and humanity of those they lead.Her corporate journey spans more than 35 years across Fortune 100 organizations — from designing the Northeast Leadership Institute at State Farm to serving as Global Head of Claims Technical Training at AIG, where she publicly disclosed her MS diagnosis and vowed never again to let toxic environments compromise her leadership or her humanity.

At USAA, as AVP of Learning and Development, she led enterprise learning transformation for 37,000+ employees.In 2024, she declared herself a corporate escapee and founded EdenAnthony Elite Talent Solutions LLC — named in honor of her late father — as a space where leaders align performance with joy and integrity. Her clients include State Farm, PURE Insurance, CarGurus, and PeakSpan Capital.

She is the host of It Starts with Joy — LIVE, a weekly show exploring the human side of leadership. She is an Executive Champion for TheClimb.org, holds a BA from Penn State and an MBA from Dowling College, and lives with her husband, Dwayne, and their pup, Bella.