Cheryl Fabio

Cheryl Fabio spent her formative years moving from one end of the country to the next while her dad served in the Air Force. The Fabio family then settled in Oakland, CA. Her mom, Sarah Fabio, a writer in the Black Arts Movement, was raised in Nashville, Tennessee. Cheryl was sent to Fisk University for college and returned to California to study documentary film at Stanford University. Her first film, Rainbow Black: Poet Sarah Webster Fabio, was 31 minutes and an intimate look at her mother, an educator, writer, and particularly a poet. Fabio has developed unique skills and perspectives in a nonlinear career that includes social service, nonprofits, administration, and film production. In 2017, Fabio produced and directed Evolutionary Blues... West Oakland's Music Legacy. In 2021 she made, East Oakland Counter Narratives. Her new film, A Rising Tide - chronicles homelessness and housing insecurity among Black children and families in Alameda Co. 50% of Alameda County's homeless live in Oakland. 70% of those in Oakland are Black (2019). Fabio is the Executive Director of Sarah Webster Fabio Center for Social Justice (SWFCenter), the mother of 2, and the grandmother of 4.