I first met Sheila about 10 years ago when she “SHOWED UP” at a Nafe Conference I was doing in Manhattan Beach, CA. Not long after that she became one of my Nafe members and two years ago stepped into the plate of also being a Nafe Director.
Life has not always been easy for this woman; she was born in Cleveland, Ohio and moved to California when she was 9. She came from an abusive and poor childhood, many times she and her siblings would come home from school and found out they were moving. She and her siblings thought it was because they were just moving to a different place, but later in life they found out that they had been evicted. Her mother, father and step father are deceased. She says her tough childhood just made her a stronger person.
She graduated from Redlands High School and a year ago she and her sisters went back for a class reunion which they totally enjoyed.
Sheila has been married to Al for 45 years, they had one son, Robert who passed away at age 35 from a heart condition. Losing one’s only child is very hard but she knew that Robert her son would want her to keep going and for her to step out and move forward and that is what she has continued to do.
For over ten years she has worked as an Avon representative and a team leader and this year she added selling Mary Kay as well. During these years with Avon and being an entrepreneur she has offered the opportunity for other women to join Avon as part of her team and now is also offering those that want to be part of her Mary Kay team as well.
She is a former Senior Ms. Menifee Valley Chamber Queen and served in that capacity from 2013-2014. She is a person that loves to give back to the community and over the years has been one of my volunteers for the many events I do in the community, the most recent one was the Nafe Success up Conference.
She also is the first to donate her time and to donate items for silent auctions for the non-profits in her community.
She is a member of Nafe; GFWC Menifee/Sun City Women’s Club and has helped with many other projects in the area.
Although a senior she loves to stay busy and is a true professional, she is always striving to do her best, she is the first to “SHOW-UP” at other networks and to support any of the Nafe and Menifee Valley Chamber events that Nafe is a member of. She is always there with a positive word for everyone.
When I first met Sheila she was very shy, but she always showed up eager to grow and to overcome her shyness and be also able to share her expertise that she gained over her many years in the corporate world with others. Her corporate experience included being A Customer Service Representative, Full Charge Bookkeeper, and Software Librarian at General Dynamics where she was a co-author of an Engineer manual.
You can count on her, she helped me 9 years ago with a Nafe member who had a stroke as we had to clean her house out and this member was a hoarder and the house was worse than any hoarder show you see on television. She stayed at the house and worked tirelessly to and we went through stuff and got rid of things that had to go and helped me move it all out so we could use the money she was paying for rent to pay for her nursing home where she lived for 9 years, she died this past November and Sheila also went with me numerous times to visit her. Sheila spent weeks on this project and did not give up until the job was achieved which was not an easy task.
Sheila over the years worked with several mentors and still enjoys mentorship as she wants to continue to grow in business and in her personal life.
She has won the Call to Service Award from the President of the United States several times for her dedication to volunteer work; her latest award was in 2015. She also won the Victorious Woman’s Award from, the Victorious Woman’s Organization in New York several years ago.
Sheila has an Associate Arts degree from San Bernardino Valley College and over the years has taken numerous courses to enhance her marketing, customer service and other skills so she can better serve her team, her customers and her community.
Sheila is always encouraging others to go for their dreams; she is great at sharing ideas and shares leads with other Nafe members and “SHOWSUP” at other Nafe networks outside of Menifee to support the directors of those networks.
Susan Pomerantz President/CEO of Concepts for Living said this about Sheila “I know Sheila through professional networking groups, she is motivated, tenacious, friendly, diligent and committed. She is easy to be with, works well in team settings and I know that she will succeed at whatever she wishes to do”.
Sigal Zoldan a Transformational Specialist said “ I met Sheila through LinkedIn, I was very impressed with her communication skills, with her deep understanding of what business relationship means and with taking action from her heart. When I was looking for a connection she was the first one to notice what I was looking for and took action.
I know when I call her to help she is always there, as Sheila Caruso is a person that cares and is always willing to help where she is needed, and says that even though she is a senior she wants to continue to work and serve her community and individuals.
I also as a senior feel that if one stays busy whether it is to continue working or as a volunteer to serve ones community you stay “young” as it has worked for me and I am 80.
Sheila can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , her website is www.youravon.com/scaruso and cell is 949-330-0927
