Cheryl Robertson is a freelance journalist writing for trade and consumer press. She also undertakes special projects such as column writing, compiling supplements, brochures and newsletters, rehashes scientific or technical papers into lively readable copy for the layman, and is a travel planner of note.

Born and brought up in Bulawayo Zimbabwe, in 1978 she became a rookie reporter on The Rhodesia Herald in Harare, the country’s national daily newspaper. After back-packing around the Middle East and Europe, she joined The Star national daily newspaper in Johannesburg, South Africa as a news reporter. She gained experience in the photographic department and moved to the features section of the newspaper as a photojournalist. Her final assignment for this newspaper was to travel for six months in a Dragoman (http://www.dragoman.com) overland bus from Felixstowe in the UK to Johannesburg via 14 African countries.

Cheryl returned to Zimbabwe in 1985 to join Thomson Publications in Harare as editor of a motor trade magazine. She also edited supplements and other quarterly trade magazines. On a necessary move to the UK she became assistant editor of an EMAP trade magazine based in Croydon, and represented the magazine at all industry events, exhibitions and seminars in Europe.

As a public relations executive for a marketing company in Crawley, West Sussex, she compiled brochures, organised events, functions and exhibitions and gained media exposure in Europe for the company’s clients. Later on she and ITEC tutor and cosmetic formulator Maurene Charlwood wrote a book called “Cosmetic Watch: Lifting the lid off cosmetic ingredients” which was published by Elliott Right-Way Books Ltd in 2001 in the UK.

Cheryl has been living in Dubai since 2002. For a number of years she was editor of the Al Hilal Publishing Group’s monthly travel trade magazine Travel & Tourism News Middle East (TTN).