Cheree Boteler, a native Nevadan and a graduate of the esteemed University of Nevada, Reno, is a visionary marketer and community advocate. With a wealth of experience in marketing, event planning, business development, and community engagement, Cheree is a highly qualified professional who brings a unique blend of expertise and passion to every endeavor.
For 21 years, she worked in the Business/Economic Development department at NV Energy and was responsible for the development and content strategy for NV Energy’s Economic Development digital and print media. During her time there, she implemented Nevada’s first statewide GIS based database of industrial and office buildings and land (Nevada Site Locator). In her final years at NV Energy, she also served as the Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Project Manager. With the assistance of local, federal and private connections, her team successfully implemented UAS (drones) into NV Energy’s operations. Read more about this project via Women and Drones.
She currently works as the Chief Marketing Officer at STEP2, a local non-profit with a mission to break the cycle of addiction and violence in families. Cheree made the move to STEP2 in 2018 and since then event revenue has increased by over 68% and general donations by over 94%.
Cheree’s deep love for her community and the people and places that make it special led her to become the founder and managing owner of two Nevada brands:
- Opportunity Nevada, established in 2015, a collaborative marketing initiative created to promote Nevada and Nevada businesses/brands.
- Hungry in Reno, established in 2017, a collaborative food and drink brand that provides the opportunity for Reno/Tahoe locals and visitors to become connected personally to the owners and chefs that are putting their heart and soul into Reno/Tahoe food and drinks. In 2021, she launched four additional Hungry Brands: Hungry in Tahoe, Hungry in Sparks and Hungry in Carson as well as HungryIn_, a travel brand.
In 2020, under her Hungry in Reno brand, she launched Reno Restaurant Week, now Reno Food & Drink Week, an annual week-long event taking place the first week of June. This event was created to support and celebrate the food and drink community and to encourage locals and visitors to try new places during this week and, hopefully after having an excellent experience, revisit throughout the year. In 2021, she added an additional week to highlight the City of Sparks’ growing food and drink scene – Sparks Food & Drink Week.
In 2020, she co-founded (with Katrina Loftin, Mark Estee & Blake Smith) Hospitality Industry Partnerships (HIP), a 501(c)(3) non-profit formed with the mission to feed hospitality and service industry team members that are out of work or have been placed on reduced hours during the COVID-19 pandemic. Over a 9-week period in 2020, Nevada HIP provided over 3,000 meals (approximately 9,000 servings) to hospitality and service team members. Under her direction, Nevada HIP continued to provide food relief to over 50 hospitality and service industry families within the Reno/Sparks/Carson area throughout 2020 and into early 2021.
In 2021, she co-founded (with Kylie Rowe) Social in Reno, a brand that plans and executes low-key events at local establishments to celebrate being “off the clock”.
In 2022, she had the distinct honor of being a judge in the 2022 The James Beard Foundation Awards cycle for the Book, Broadcast, Journalism, Restaurant and Chef, and Leadership programs.
In 2022-23, she was the author of several food and drink feature articles for Reno News & Review.