When Maya Angelou said, “I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels,” she was probably talking about current AU senior and CLEG (Communication, Legal Institutions, Economics, and Government) major, Chante Harris. This New Jersey native and powerful poetess truly embodies a Woman of the Year, from her passion for community service to her mission to empower those who are often unheard . Speaking with Chante left me feeling inspired; she is humble, yet oozes confidence, she is reserved, yet unapologetically outspoken. Chante is truly grabbing the world by its lapels, and I was honored to be a part of the ride, even for just an hour.
Her Campus American University: In what ways has your work with DC Reads and Jumpstart impacted you?
Chante Harris: D.C. Reads and Jumpstart were the gateways I needed to encourage me to really get to know the city I was committing to during my undergraduate career. It made me realize that D.C. was so much more than Northwest, monuments and museums. Both experiences allowed me to recognize the rich history of DC that was made up of so many people with real stories and struggles. It also allowed me to explore even further my passion for equal access to and quality of education to all citizens regardless of their socioeconomic status.
HCAU: The person who nominated you for Women of the Year mentioned that you helped to create an FSE (Freshman Service Experience) program for the Fall 2014 freshman class. What made you want to take on that project?
CH: This past summer I was a Freshman Service Experience coordinator and worked specifically on evening programs following the second day of service. There were four different evening programs all focused on a social justice issue prevalent to the DC area: homelessness, the LGBTQ community, education and a poetry workshop that highlighted a variety of issues. I wanted to get involved with FSE and primarily programming because I see the value in introducing students to the issues that affect the community they will call home for the next four years. The program plays a large role in dispelling the notion that working to address certain issues are only for certain people and not for others. Through FSE students recognize how they can add to the progress of a city during their four years at American University.
HCAU: What women do you look up to?
CH: I’m pretty obsessed with Michelle Obama. I think she just has an amazing elegance and style about her. Also, she’s really good at showing her personality and how she’s proud of her background and where she comes from. And she works on issues that she’s passionate about. For my entire life I’ve been inspired by Maya Angelou. She’s the reason why I started writing poetry when I was younger. I think I wrote my fourth grade book report on I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, which is still one of my favorite books. Also, my grandmother. She’s the reason why I was inspired to even dabble in public service, and really the reason why I’m so passionate about government and social justice. She was a civil rights leader when she was around my age, and she’s always been really opinionated, and vocal, and unapologetic about issues that affect her and her community.
Michaela Angela Davis, too. I love her Twitter, and I love that she empowers women of color to just be themselves, regardless of what society tells them they’re supposed to be. Another inspiration in my life is Meg Rego, who actually works here at American University. She works with the Community Service Learning Program, and she’s one of the reasons why I’ve had the amount of leadership positions that I’ve had here. She’s encouraged me to challenge myself to do things that I didn’t think I could do, in my undergraduate career. As well as Professor [Elizabeth] Sherman, who is just an amazing woman leader. She’s the head of the Woman Politics Institute, here. I had her as a professor and she’s an amazing teacher. She’s very intense. She wants what she wants, and you cannot walk into her class unprepared. But I love that because I think the understandings that I have now, about public policy, government, and law are definitely because of her, and how much she challenged me in her course.
HCAU: What makes you feel powerful?
CH: One of the things that really makes me feel powerful is being around other powerful women. I think a lot of the time, we’re told that we’re not able to make the amount of impact that we want to, or that we have to wait – that there’s a time range for you to really make change in the world and in your communities. And I think I’ve been blessed to be around a lot of amazing women, within the past even year, that are challenging that notion by being powerful now. And I get to be a part of that, and be one of those women. So I think just being around other women that are really creating a change is powerful to me. Also having my voice heard makes me feel powerful. I think when I write poetry, it makes me feel powerful. I don’t share it much, I’m pretty shy about it, but it makes me feel powerful. I think when I exercise I feel powerful.
HCAU: Can you talk a little bit about your upcoming fellowship in NYC? How did you get it, and what will you be doing there?
CH: The Coro Fellowship in Public Service in New York City. The Fellowship consists of exploring all aspects of public service including the government, nonprofit and corporate sectors. Coro works to provide participants with a deep understanding of how New York City works and the network, knowledge and skills to make it better. I got the Fellowship by applying, being chosen as a finalist and then attending a day long interview in New York City.
HCAU: What is your dream job?
CH: I don’t know if my dream job has a title yet, but I think my dream job is empowering those who have felt un-empowered to go out and just create change – whether its in themselves, in their communities, or within the people they hang out with. I mean it’s so broad, I know. It’s so hard to explain. I’m such a people person; I love meeting new people, I love learning about new cultures and languages, and I love diversity and what that means in all aspects. So I guess my dream job would be allowing others who have felt like their voices were not always heard, or who weren’t always valued because of their differences, to feel that they’re empowered.
HCAU: What issues are you passionate about?
CH: I am very passionate about a variety of issues including paid family leave, gun violence prevention, gentrification, economic justice, unemployment, the BlackLivesMatter movement, preventing sexual assault, equal quality of education, access to higher education and, voter rights, just to list a few.
HCAU: What have you done or want to do in order to work for those issues?
CH: I have been involved in education issues since the age of fourteen when I recognized that my friends, family, and loved ones didn’t have the same opportunities I had, in large part due to the quality of education in their communities. I became involved with the tutoring program at my church in Newark, New Jersey when I was in high school and wanted to continue adding to the conversation once I arrived at AU. This is why I chose to do DC Reads and then Jumpstart. Additionally, I worked on gaining co-sponsorship for H.R. 894, while interning in Congressman John Conyers’ (D-MI) office last spring, with gaining co-sponsorship for a H.R. 894, a bill that, if passed, would help reduce maternal mortality rates and eliminate disparities in maternal mortality rates. I currently work with the Action Team at Generation Progress and work on a variety of campaigns including gun violence prevention, sexual assault on college campuses, also known as the It’s On Us Campaign, economic equality and higher education debt.
HCAU: Ok, now for some fun questions. What’s your guilty pleasure?
CH: I love, love, love, love the Cookies & Cream Hershey’s bars. It’s so bad, I’ll eat, like, 10 of them. Its definitely my guilty pleasure. Another guilty pleasure of mine is, I don’t know if it’s a guilty pleasure because I don’t know if I feel that guilty about it, but I love Being Mary Jane, the show. That’s one of my favorite shows. And I don’t watch much TV because I feel like I don’t have the time, but I love watching Being Mary Jane. There’s just so many things about that show that I feel like I can relate to. Its probably the only show I’ve ever watched on BET, to be honest
HCAU: What is your favorite book?
CH: I actually read this book for the first time this past summer, and I think most people have read it in high school, but I didn’t read it in high school – Things Fall Apart [by Chinua Achebe]. It was just an amazing book; I absolutely loved it. It just made me think about things completely differently. That’s definitely one of my favorite books, in addition to I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings [by Maya Angelou] and The Color of Water [by James McBride]. I have so many.
HCAU: What is your favorite spot on campus or in D.C?
CH: On campus, I really really like the top of Katzen [Arts Center]. Not too many people go up there, and there are tables and seats, and you can just look down on Mass Ave. It’s really pretty. When I was here over the summer, I went up there to read a lot. It’s a nice place to go read and relax. I live near the National Cathedral, so I like going over there sometimes and just hanging out. It’s just a really nice view. There’s definitely a ton [of places in DC that I like], but we can go with the National Cathedral because I feel like I’m there the most. That’s definitely one of my favorite spots – plus like 10 others.
HCAU: What are you most proud of?
CH: I’ve been able to empower women to emerge as leaders on campus and in their communities. To know that I helped inspire other amazing women to speak out and advocate on behalf of themselves and issues that matters to them means the world to me. In empowering other women. I empower myself and this is what I’m most proud of.
HCAU: What advice would you give to women who want to empower other women?
CH: I think it starts with empowering yourself. I think it has a lot to do with you realizing that you can be an amazing woman. From you being an amazing woman, you encourage other young women to be amazing women. And the biggest thing for me, is that now that I’m a senior, even having undergrad women coming up to me saying like ‘You’ve inspired me to do this and do that,’ and its just weird because I’m still figuring myself out, and growing each and every day. While I’m definitely challenging myself to create the change that I want to see, it’s really amazing to see how just by you embracing your power, you are able to embrace other women’s power, as well. So I think it has a lot to do with you being confident in who you are, and recognizing and embracing the fact that you can create an impact. I think what happens is that other women see that, and they want to be like that, and they realize that they can do this too.