Terri Cheney




Biography After graduating Vassar College with honors, Ms. Cheney attended UCLA School of Law. She then specialized in intellectual property and entertainment litigation at several prominent L.A. firms, including Manatt, Phelps & Phillips. Over the course of her sixteen-year career, Ms. Cheney represented many celebrities and major motion picture studios, including Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, Universal, Columbia, etc. Her pro bono work ranged from counseling local theaters to petitioning the United States Supreme Court on behalf of the ACLU. After years of secretly struggling with manic depression, Ms. Cheney decided to leave the law and devote her advocacy skills toward a cause that is closer to her heart: writing about her illness, and encouraging the mentally ill to tell their own stories. In recognition of her efforts, she was appointed a member of the Community Advisory Board of the UCLA Mood Disorders Research Program, the nation’s largest nonprofit research consortium regarding manic depression. She also founded a weekly community support group at UCLA’s Neuropsychiatric Institute. Ms. Cheney currently lives in Los Angeles.

Biography