Business Q&A: White Glove Cleaning and Host Services

Cheryl Hassell of Forest Hills decided to change everything about her life when she had enough of a toxic job and a marriage that wasn’t working.

A social worker who was bogged down by her workplace, she decided to leave it all behind and start a new business filled with positive energy and giving back with “White Glove Cleaning and Host Services.”

A member of the , Hassell just got elected to the board of directors.

How did you start your career and then make a change?

I graduated from college with a dual degree in psychology and sociology and went straight into business and leased spaces for shopping malls. Then, I got married and moved to Johnstown and became a social worker, which were my roots. After 11 years of that, I was really crispy and burnt out and I was in a marriage for 10 years trying to be happy being unhappy, and I was so frightened and didn’t have the courage to leave. I left a toxic environment with work and my spirit was so low, it was like below sea level.

Combined with a marriage that wasn’t working, I just wasn’t in great emotional shape. My sister told me about the Landmark Education forum and I went with her to one in Philadelphia. I found some courage and some things in me that I didn’t know I had and within three months, I left my marriage, I moved to Pittsburgh and I left everything behind.

How did you establish your own business here in Forest Hills?

I moved in with friends here in town six and a half years ago, and one of my friend’s bosses was my first job and I kept getting referred. What really cracked everything open was joining the . Everything has exploded. A quarter of my accounts are commercial - I have several office buildings, an apartment building, retail and residential.

What other services do you offer in terms of hosting?

The hosting part is always curious to people but it’s just that extra pair of hands to help someone who is entertaining connect with their guests instead of thinking this platter needs filled or that needs done. Sometimes, I walk in and say, 'You get in the shower, I will get the tablecloth on the table and the flowers in the vase and get the drinks set up.' I have done picnics, parties, everything. It’s a lot of fun for me.

What do you enjoy about your job?

From the time I was a little girl, I always said there was so much inner pandemonium in my head that I need outward order, and my tag line is that I deliver comfort, peace and joy to people. I truly feel like how can you think if your retreat or your nest is in disarray? It’s a product I feel confident in delivering well. I think I do an excellent job and I leave every day thinking, ‘They are going to be so happy when they see this.’ It helps everybody live their best lives whether it’s in an office, or a retail space or they are walking into the hallway of their apartment building.

I think we all have a pride about our space and where we live, and it’s always been therapeutic for me. Being in constant motion is something I have always enjoyed.

What is your philosophy on WBN?

First of all, women are amazing. I am a sociologist and I have worked my whole life to upend and unlearn stereotypes. This is a group of women who not only care about promoting their own businesses, they care as much about helping others promote their own. A 30-second commercial is amazing because it helps someone get on point and say, what’s your business? What is the focus? What do you deliver? Just learning how to do that is cool. They are fun, they’re funny and once again, I can be feeling not so great and then I go to one of those meetings and it’s uplifting, and edifying and they are so smart. What a resource to have.