Hey! I’m Chantelle. Great to e-meet you 😁
The “Official” Stuff
Some people like to know the resume and I had to put it somewhere, so here it is. I'm a former WNBA player turned author, speaker, Bible teacher, and entrepreneur.
WNBA 2nd Overall Draft Pick • 6 Year WNBA Veteran • Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame • Vanderbilt University Athletics Hall of Fame • Vanderbilt University Basketball Career Scoring Leader • Vanderbilt University Graduate • Stryker Medical President's Club • Regional Sales Rep of the Year
Speaker: Google, United Health Group, Astellas Pharmaceuticals, Bank of the West, Charles Schwab, Vanderbilt University, Babson College, Eskenazi Healthcare
Ordained Minister, Bachelors degree in ministry
The Real Story
“Pass it on.”
Have you ever looked back at your life and thought, “There’s no way I went through that just for me”?
That’s how I feel when I look at mine.
Like, there has to be an easier way to learn the things I know than the way I did it.
Confidently His is my way of passing on those lessons I learned the hard way.
It's funny because when people see my resume, they assume I'm someone who's never been through anything. And while that's a great thought, it's not the truth.
So here's the real story.
I grew up in Southern California in a 2-parent household - Mommy and Daddy were college sweethearts. He was a Perfusionist and she was a Physical Therapist.
I had 2 sisters - Kristin and Amber - and we had 2 dogs, a bunch of fish, and hundreds of birds. We went to a private 7th Day Adventist elementary school and I was a complete daddy’s girl.
Life was beautiful and it was supposed to be. I didn’t have to worry about power or control because I was safe. It wasn’t a question.
But as life went on - seeing my parents get divorced, experiencing abuse, mental illness, and sexual assault - there were many examples of authority and power as disappointing at best and abused at worst. It left me with a conviction that submitting meant I got hurt, period.
From then on I became obsessed with control. And my lifestyle allowed it.
I chased success, from being an honors student in high school, to a college All-American in basketball at Vanderbilt, to getting drafted 2nd overall in the WNBA draft. My desire for control allowed me to be successful.
But it also made me destructive to myself.
I became anorexic and bulimic. At times what went in and out of my body felt like the only thing I could control.
I burned myself with lighters. It allowed me to feel pain I could understand and control instead of the pain inside that I couldn’t.
I partied, and got drunk and high to control what I felt and what I didn’t.
I hurt every person I was in any kind of relationship with, using their attraction to control them.
I even tried to control God by promising to change my life and follow Him if He gave me what I wanted. He continued to bless me but I never kept my word.
I became two people. The public me was an up-and-coming star, driven, and having fun.
The private me was depressed, lost, and felt worthless.
I desperately wanted to be one person but I didn’t know how. I kept chasing the things I wanted and got most of it, but it was never enough.
Then my life started spiraling out of control and nothing I tried could stop it.
I went through a really public breakup that was humiliating.
Then I broke my kneecap and was off the basketball court for 7 months.
Then, right when I came back to basketball at the top of my game, I tore my Achilles while playing in Istanbul, Turkey.
In my hospital bed halfway around the world, that’s when I realized I wasn’t in control and I needed to follow the One who was. It felt like someone took my blinders off and there it was, clear as day.
After that realization, I said a prayer of surrender that changed my life.
I said, “Ok God. I’ll do life Your way. Short, sweet, to the point.
And for the first time, I meant it.
When I prayed that, I didn’t know what "doing life God’s way" meant, and I didn’t even believe the Bible. But I started reading it because I figured that maybe God was somewhere in there.
From there, even though I didn’t know how it was supposed to go, I decided to do - or stop doing in most cases - everything I felt convicted of in my heart. It wasn’t easy and I wasn’t perfect - those first couple years were rough and I messed up a lot. But I was really trying to follow Him the right way.
As I kept reading the Book, I eventually fell in love with the Author.
Thankfully, God saw my heart and heard my prayers, and sent women into my life to help me. They taught me through the Scriptures what it looked like to follow God and really love Him. And they didn’t just tell me to do it. They helped me do it.
That’s when I made Jesus the Lord of my life and was baptized on September 17, 2013.
Since then it’s been an amazing adventure!
I started my own business 6 years ago and have spoken at companies like Google, ESPNW, and Charles Schwab.
I’ve also helped plant three churches in Houston, Miami, and now San Diego. I got my Bachelors Degree in ministry and get to speak and use the Bible to teach women all over the world what it looks like to follow God. And God has allowed me to use my talents to build this platform, Confidently His.
Most of all, He’s healed me from my need to control everything in my life through pain, manipulation, substance abuse, and being a slave to my sin. I get to be the same person in public and in private, which is the best feeling ever.
God took the broken life I gave Him and made something beautiful with it. I spent so long living out the lies of Satan and I don’t deserve any of this. But God chooses to use me anyway and His trust means everything to me.
My life isn’t all rainbows and butterflies. No one’s is. But even on the hard days, this path with God is the only one that also comes with joy, peace, hope, purpose, forgiveness, and ultimately eternal life.
I’ve learned that God’s path is always better. And now it’s my life’s mission to help as many people as possible do the same.
Overall, I love sushi, road trips, and movies that end in "happily ever after." I’m an introvert living an extrovert's life, and a recovering perfectionist reminding myself of grace every day.
I’m passionate about success but never at the expense of authenticity.
God created everyone to live an impactful, confident life in Him and I want to help them do it!
So to you, thanks for reading my story, and I hope we can connect soon.
In Grace & Gratitude,
Chantelle
"The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it." - John 1:5
