01
Portfolio · Vol. 2026
hi, I'm DAWN
CHERON

I build the systems, teams, and policies that make platforms safe and scalable. Trust and Safety leader with eight years specializing in community moderation, from early-stage startups to enterprise scale. Currently at Indeed.

Greater Los Angeles · Open to Remote
Operations · Trust and Safety · Strategy

Your platform needs infrastructure, not just answers. Let's build the system that solves the problem for good.

I work with UGC platforms, AI startups, and marketplaces that need senior Trust and Safety thinking but aren't ready to hire a full team yet. Greenfield builds are my specialty. I've done this before, and I can do it again for you, faster than you'd expect.

8
Years in Trust & Safety
2
Acquisitions Carried
95%
QA Accuracy at Scale
40K+
Monthly Content Reviews
Community Moderation Content Policy Design AI + Human-in-the-Loop DSA Compliance Vendor Management Severity Frameworks Enforcement Operations Workflow Design QA & Calibration Community Moderation Content Policy Design AI + Human-in-the-Loop DSA Compliance Vendor Management Severity Frameworks Enforcement Operations
01

Problems
I actually solve

Most platforms hit the same wall. They've grown faster than their Trust and Safety has, and now they need real infrastructure. Or they're starting from zero and don't know where to begin. I work on the problems below, end to end. Not advice, not slides. The actual build.

No. 01
Building Trust and Safety from scratch

You've got a growing platform and zero Trust and Safety infrastructure. I've built this function from the ground up before, hired the team, set the standards, and made sure it could scale without breaking.

  • Foundational content policies and community guidelines
  • Severity frameworks and enforcement matrices
  • Reviewer workflows, escalation paths, QA benchmarks
  • Hiring, onboarding, and training the first moderation team
No. 02
AI moderation that actually works

Your model is flagging the wrong things. Your reviewers are overruling it constantly. The pipeline between AI and human is broken. I design the system so AI does what it's good at and humans do what they're good at.

  • Prompt development and policy alignment
  • Quality calibration between AI and human reviewers
  • Human-in-the-loop program design
  • Tooling gap audits and roadmap input
No. 03
Scaling without breaking

Your volume just tripled. Your team is burning out. Quality is slipping but nobody can pinpoint where. I find the bottleneck, fix the workflow, and make sure the next 10x doesn't break the system.

  • Workflow and process redesign
  • Vendor team management and quality alignment
  • Operational reporting and trend analysis
  • DSA-aligned compliance documentation
HOW

I build for sustainability, not dependency

A lot of consultants build something only they can run. That's not how I work. My job is to build a system your team understands, owns, and can maintain after I'm gone. I'm here to solve the problem, not become a permanent line item.

That means documentation that actually gets read. Frameworks people can apply on their own. Tooling that fits how your team really works. And a clean handoff when the build is done.

"I operate at the intersection of product, policy, and people. Equally at home writing policy, querying data, managing vendors, or aligning stakeholders."
01
Start with the operational reality

Strategy that ignores how the work actually gets done falls apart in week two. I start by understanding the queue, the reviewers, the tools, the bottlenecks.

02
Build for the team you have

The fanciest framework is useless if your team can't run it on a Tuesday at 2pm. I design systems that fit the people doing the work.

03
Document like the next person is reading it

Because they are. Every policy, every framework, every decision tree gets written so someone new can pick it up and run.

04
Measure what actually matters

Vanity metrics waste everyone's time. I track the numbers that tell you whether the system is healthy and where it's about to break.

02

Case
studies

Two engagements that show how I work. Each one shows the full arc, from what was broken when I walked in to the system that was running when I left. Details available on discovery call.

Case Study · 01
01
Available on Call
Startup to Enterprise Acquisition Prep Team Build
Scaling a startup moderation team for enterprise acquisition

Took a small startup community moderation function and prepared it to operate inside a large enterprise. Hiring, onboarding, training, tool building, and policy work that held up through the transition and beyond.

0 → 1
Function Built
M+
Users Protected
Acq.
Successful Handoff
Learn more on a call
Case Study · 02
02
Available on Call
AI + Human Prompt Engineering Feedback Loops
Training a GPT model to handle first-pass community moderation

Built and trained a GPT-based moderation system as the first pass before manual review. Designed the prompt, the policy alignment, and the continuous feedback loop that kept it improving over time.

85%
QA Accuracy
40K+
Monthly Reviews
Live
Feedback Loop
Learn more on a call
03

How to
engage

Different platforms need different levels of support. I work across three engagement types depending on where you are. Not sure which fits? Book a call and we'll figure it out together.

04

Built for
these teams

My experience runs deepest in environments where content, community, and AI intersect. Familiar with the Digital Services Act and other regulatory frameworks shaping modern moderation. If your platform fits one of these, we'll have a productive call.

UGC Platforms

Social platforms, community apps, professional networks. Anywhere users post and the platform has to keep it safe.

AI Startups

Early-stage AI companies that need safety frameworks before they scale. Red-teaming, evaluation design, human-in-the-loop programs.

Marketplaces

Buyer-seller platforms working through fraud, bad actors, and the trust systems that make commerce work at scale.

Growing Teams

Companies standing up Trust and Safety for the first time or restructuring after rapid growth. Team design, tooling, process documentation.

Build the system Scale the operation Document the work Hand off with confidence Build the system Scale the operation Document the work Hand off with confidence
LET'S TALK
Ready when you are
let's solve something TOGETHER

If your platform needs real Trust and Safety infrastructure and you'd rather build it right than figure it out under pressure, book a discovery call. Thirty minutes, no pitch. We'll see if it's a fit and what makes sense from there.