Sherri Lander Smith

Trust Your Creative Ideas

Strategic Advisor & Program Architect

Sherri is a strategist, advisor, and project partner known for helping individuals and organizations clarify direction, sequence action steps, and establish infrastructure that supports long-term impact.

Her experience includes:

  • Designing and implementing creative and educational programs

  • Advising artists on business structure, monetization pathways, and sustainable growth

  • Developing initiatives in collaboration with national brands and institutions

  • Supporting organizations in governance, planning, and ethical culture-building

  • Facilitating transitions, restructuring, and long-view planning

Her earlier national collaborations included promotional and strategic initiatives involving The Grammy Foundation, Yahoo!, JetBlue Airways, Hilton, and Sharp’s “Dream in You” campaign. Her work has been featured in television, print, and online publications including Forbes, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance Magazine, and multiple education-focused outlets.

Artist & Industry Experience

Sherri is not an outside consultant observing creative work from a distance. She is an artist herself. A vocalist, drummer, and visual artist, she and her husband co-founded Azurat Studio, where they have supported recording, production, assisted management, booking, and artist development for independent musicians across genres.

Her work with artists has included:

  • Recording preparation and production support

  • Assisted management and booking strategy

  • Marketing and promotion guidance

  • Education on publishing, licensing, royalties, and monetization structures

  • Helping independent artists build the foundations that make larger opportunities possible

  • Performing & touring as a professiona vocalist

Her long-standing seminar “Face the Music” addressed the structural realities many independent musicians overlook, from copyright and performance rights organizations to tour budgeting, digital management tools, and sustainable revenue pathways.

Educator & Educational Innovator

Sherri’s educational work spans early childhood leadership, alternative education, curriculum design, and parent advisory.

She has:

  • Directed an early childhood day school

  • Trained early childhood professionals under federal programs

  • Served as advocacy chair and board member across educational and arts organizations

  • Advised homeschool networks and national education platforms

  • Taught entrepreneurship courses at the community college level

  • Developed long-running creative arts and project-based learning programs

She is the founder of The Genius Center (GenieU®) and creator of "Project Learning Works!"including the long-running civic education program “Box City – Creative Cardboard Civics.” Sherri continues to joyfully facilitate "Storyland Adventures" for 3-4 weeks every summer with gradeschool children.

Her educational philosophy centers on honoring individual strengths while building practical frameworks and facilitating creative environments that allow learners to thrive.

Leadership, Governance & Community Development

Throughout her career, Sherri has served on and advised numerous nonprofit boards and cultural initiatives across Virginia and beyond.

Her roles have included:

  • Community development strategist

  • Conference co-founder and presenter

  • Board director and governance advisor

  • Advocacy leader in arts and environmental initiatives

  • Founder of regional and national collaborative support networks

This experience informs her present-day coaching and advisory work in career development, legacy planning, stewardship, and long-view entrepreneruail and organizational health.

Lander Creative provides coaching, strategy, and program

design for artists, musicians, and educators who feel

called to create work that matters.

A Constellation of Experience

From stage to strategy to stewardship.

Across performance, education, consulting, publishing, governance, and entrepreneurship, one principle has remained constant:

Creative work deserves structure.
Structure deserves integrity.
Integrity allows meaningful work to endure.

Sherri’s work today reflects the synthesis of decades spent inside creative communities, educational systems, and strategic planning environments.

She partners with those who are ready not only to imagine, but to build.

1970s — Performing Artist & Musical Foundation

Studied voice and education at the collegiate level and performed as a solo artist and lead female vocalist for the Texas band Tallgrass.

After relocating to Virginia, formed the duo Lander & Wolcott, performing regionally, participating in collaborative musical projects to include studio recording, while homesteading and raising a family deeply rooted in creativity and the arts.

This early chapter established firsthand understanding of performance, audience engagement, artistic identity, and the realities of sustaining creative work.

1980s–1990s — Education, Leadership & Advocacy

Early childhood leadership, federal training initiatives, curriculum innovation and development, and the founding of regional education support networks. Frequent conference presenter and co-owner of the Rethinking Education Conference.

Developed learner-centered frameworks and project-based approaches that emphasized autonomy, creativity, and structural clarity.

2000s — National Education & Community Leadership

Served in advisory and board roles across arts, education, and environmental initiatives. Served as a Strategic and Leadership Consulant to Non-profit organizations through the Virginia Commission for the Arts.

Published nationally, co-founded conferences, and expanded strategic planning and governance expertise. Established The Genius Center.

2010s — Creative Enterprise & Artist Infrastructure

Co-founded Azurat Studio. Supported independent musicians through production, assisted management, booking strategy, monetization education, promotions and structural readiness. Directed the Artisans Center of Virginia, developing Virginia's Artisan Trail Network and the Virginia Oyster Trail.


Hosted numerous statewide artisan conferences and created her Face the Music seminar addressing the foundational business realities often overlooked by emerging artists.

2020s — Strategic Advisory & Long-View Stewardship

Lander Creative, partners primarily with musicians, artists, and educators to design programs, providing structure, guide transitions, and steward meaningful work with sustainability in mind.

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© Sherri Lander Smith, Lander Creative, LLC. 2026. All Rights Reserved.