Speaking Engagements

Palmetto Journey of Hope

Colleges & Universities

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Colleges & Universities 🎓

Examine Your Hedman

Your hosts, Tara Hedman and Diane Thompson welcome you to another episode of Examine Your Hedman Podcast. They are joined today by Sherrerd Hartness.

Sherrerd shares that her sister was brutally murdered at a young age, and how the grief and isolation in the wake of this traumatic event shaped her. She shares the deep and lasting impact this had on her life, and the loneliness she has felt for decades. She walks us through her experience on the day her sister went missing. She shares how the kindnesses extended to her at the most difficult times possibly saved her life. She provides a beautiful picture of how after her family’s horrific loss she has learned to use her voice of experience for others.

Life really can suck less, so examine your head, man!

This podcast is not a substitute for a therapeutic relationship with a mental health professional.

Jul 14, 2022

Jul 21, 2022

What people are saying.

  • “Despite an exasperating parking challenge this morning, many of us made it to hear Sherrerd Hartness give a riveting, insightful and poignant teaching about the powerful lifelong ramifications of violence on victims' families and friends, but also on those whose own family members have committed acts of violence, learning from her own experience following the brutal murder of her sister. Sherrerd showed us a pathway to show love and to help those traumatized individuals in real and not trivial or counterproductive ways, and described how this learning led her to consider the families of those condemned, as well as the condemned themselves. This led us to consider the kinds of life experiences that can lead to cycles of violence. It was a powerful experience to learn from Sherrerd what it has taken her a lifetime to understand, and we are blessed to learn from her firsthand.”

    — Catherine Mille (January 2024)

  • "I was emotionally moved at Sherrerd's account of the violent murder of her sister Carlotta in 1977...I highly recommend her as a public speaker. She is articulate, eloquent, passionate, moving, and genuine. [Her] audiences are completely enthralled as she educates them."

    — Dr. Mary Baskin Waters, Department of Women’s and Gender Studies, University of South Carolina

"Sherrerd has an incredibly powerful story, and years of experience and wisdom to share with others...[her] story is powerful, well-told with relatable examples, and can teach us so much about grief, loss, compassion, forgiveness, mental health...and so much more."

— Dr. Ashley Mancik, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of South Carolina