Motivational Speaker Cheewa James

As one of Cheewa James’s clients once said, “When Cheewa is on, the electricity and energy kick in.” Cheewa’s evaluations speak to excellence. She is a sought-after keynote speaker and corporate trainer, creating a lasting impression on audiences—standing ovations are the norm.

Cheewa, true to her Native American ancestry, is a superb storyteller. She is a born entertainer— humorous, completely at ease with her audience, and creating moving moments that carry messages audiences remember long after Cheewa is gone.

Her keynote “Climb off Dead Horses: Mastering Change”—if the horse you are riding drops dead, that’s a good time to dismount—emphasizes balance in life and offers guidance on avoiding stress and on dealing with change in flexible, people-friendly ways.

Cheewa’s second keynote selection “If It Is To Be, It Begins With Me” assures audiences that positive results come for those who take the initiative and action to make things happen, rather than wait for the crowd. Role modeling, creativity, and strong self-development are underlined in this keynote.

With a name like Cheewa, there has to be something different going on—and there is. She says it best herself: “My father is Modoc Indian and my mother is German. That’s why I look Italian. That’s the way the gene pool runs.” Born on the Klamath Indian Reservation in Oregon, Cheewa is enrolled with the Modoc Tribe of Oklahoma. Her father was America’s first Native American professional basketball player, playing in the 1920s with the Tulsa Diamond Oilers and then on to L.A.

Her book. MODOC: The Tribe That Wouldn’t Die, is the history of her own tribe, ten years in the research and writing. “This is my legacy,” says Cheewa. “I also found that knowing family roots and understanding ancestry, seeing the trials and challenges your family faced and how they grew, promotes huge personal growth for a person.” Stories from the book not only grip her audiences when she is on the platform, but the book has been a best seller with back-of-the room sales—a signed copy is actually historic!

Cheewa’s degree is in communications, and she was a talk show hostess and news anchor for many years. She currently does on-air work with the Sacramento PBS station and at one time was the subject of a PBS syndicated program “American Indian Circle of Wisdom.” Her book Catch the Whisper of the Wind, which was released by the Chicken Soup for the Soul publishers, was promoted along with the PBS program and is composed of 60 profiles of Native people across the U. S. and Canada.

Cheewa’s trainings offer cutting-edge information on leadership, change management, communication, how to motivate people, reward and recognition, time management, teambuilding, and delegation. Clients, in consultation with Cheewa, pick topic modules that most clearly meet challenges and problems they are experiencing. Trainings are highly interactive and involve her participants in a learning style that is fun as well as making material easy to retain. Training manuals are available for the workshops.