Chantelle Armstead

I attribute my success to just my drive and my addiction to gaining more knowledge. No one can take knowledge away from you - it's power, and the more you have, the more you have to work with.

I think the best career advice I've ever received is to just do it. I know that sounds very cliche and very Nike, but as a person who is a perfectionist and an over-planner, sometimes I get caught up personally in the planning aspect of things, or the execution of things without actually going through and doing it. You don't have to do something perfectly the first time, which is something I'm still struggling to learn, but it's about just getting started. You can perfect your ideas later, but the fact of the matter is, you can go ahead and get it out there. And you know, if you don't, then God will give your ideas to Prince. Michael Jackson told a story a while back, saying that whenever he got an ounce of inspiration, he had to go act on it, because if he didn't, God would give his ideas to Prince.

What I would say is to, one, be very secure in yourself, and do not let anyone sway your opinion on yourself, your ideas, or what you're born here to do. And not even letting that person be you. I can say, as a Black woman who has been in the industry for about 5 years now, the imposter syndrome is incredibly tough, and it's just as bad as outside influences. And if you let either of those things hinder you, then you won't reach your full potential. I can say from experience, even speaking about this idea, and speaking about my company to people, especially other people in the industry, I can't even tell you how many times it's been shut down, or seen as a fantasy, or something that is unattainable or impossible. But I don't see it that way.

I think that one of the biggest challenges is just being able to have representation, but also having the tools to build what I want to build. I loved North Carolina A&T, I loved NC State University, but as far as those institutions go, they're some of the most famous in the country. However, neither of them had the ability to assist me in growing what I want to grow. There have been slivers of light here and there, but because something that I want to make is so new, so revolutionary, it's just been really hard to find a mentor of sorts to help and figure out, okay, am I doing this the right way? Am I doing this the wrong way? Is there a more strategic way for me to go about things? That's one of the biggest challenges.

I think the values that are most important to me are inclusivity, making sure people feel included and valued, but also being retrospective. I have a very big personal belief system in the fact that I don't think that anyone should have to go through what I've been through. If I've gone through it, that's enough. You should always leave something better than how you found it. This value has stuck with me from a very young age - I grew up watching Beyonce, Michael Jackson, Rihanna, all of these amazing, influential people, and I wanted to be just like them. Living in a small town in North Carolina where we didn't have music education, being able to help fulfill that for people in smaller towns or smaller cities that don't necessarily have that opportunity is something that has really been a driving factor for me from a young age.