Shantera Chatman is a woman on a mission to make sure that women are “empowHERed”. She’s a native of Houston, Texas with a degree in Information & Operations from Texas A&M University. Given that Houston is her hometown, it’s not surprising that Shantera began her career consulting in the Oil and Gas industry. She also worked at NASA’s Johnson Space Center for thirteen years. Shantera credits her extensive experience in the corporate world with building the professional and interpersonal skills that now propel her philanthropic and service-oriented endeavors. It turns out that her corporate experience was also instrumental in ushering Shantera into her work with empowhering women.
While working in the corporate arena, she was the liaison between a local women’s shelter and her company. One day she called the shelter and asked if the facility needed any support other than the financial support that the company was already providing. To her surprise, the shelter asked if someone could come in to work with the women on building confidence and being assertive. And just like that, a new path of purpose was born. Shantera began to go to the shelter every week to work with the women, many of whom were survivors of domestic abuse. She taught the women about owning their voices, the importance of making eye contact when communicating, and techniques for gaining confidence.
Motivated by her work with the women in the shelter, Shantera decided to take her message of self-confidence to a wider range of women…because let’s be real…many of us struggle with self-confidence and overcoming insecurities. So, in 2008 she launched a woman’s conference that started with 25 attendees. Now her conference attracts up to 300 women and it provides scholarships to assist women entrepreneurs, and women pursuing academic endeavors. It also includes mentorship programs.
As impressive as her women’s conference is, it was just the beginning of Shantera’s good works. Shantera founded the Chatman Women’s Foundation to broaden the reach of her message of empowerment and to continue providing resources to enhance women’s lives. The foundation offers enrichment seminars and networking events for women, and its mission is to “empower women to explore, grow and indulge in their own PowHer.”
In addition to running a foundation and producing a successful women’s conference, Shantera is also a published author. Her most recent release, “emPowerHering YOU: 12 Tips for Finding Your Voice,” includes exercises and tips to help women identify and perfect their voices. It can be purchased at www.empowheringyou.com or on Amazon. You can also tune in to the Empowerhing You podcast on Itunes, Google Play, or Soundcloud.
Shantera is a dynamic woman who believes that she is “doing God’s work”. Her hope is that her work has an IMPACT on the world and in her community by showing women that they are not alone, and that we can all uplift and support each other. Shantera will be speaking in Orlando Florida, in April at the One Woman Conference and in Atlanta in June for Black Writers Weekend. You can follow her and the emPowHerment movement on Instagram @powherful and learn more about the Chatman Women’s Foundation at
www.chatmanwomensfoundation.org.
Written by: Nicci Page @theglowaficionado
