Today we’d like to introduce you to Chanté Nicole.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I grew up in a small farm town called Havre in the great state of Montana. Havre is located 40 miles south of the Canadian border and is where the temperature often reaches -40 degrees below zero during the winter months. As wonderful as Montana is and all of the family that I have there, I was eager to see what else was out there and what the world had to offer. I attended The University of Montana for college and I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Community Health and a minor in Global Public Health. When I started college, I wasn’t very certain about what I wanted to do with my life. In addition, all I knew was that I wanted to get out of the small town I grew up in, go to school and learn about something that I had an interest in.
Throughout my life, I’ve dealt with serious health complications due to an arteriovenous malformation in my brain (AVM or tangle of blood vessels). This AVM caused bleeding on my brain that has similar effects as a stroke. I had two occurrences of a mini stroke, one when I was 18 months old and one when I was15 years old. By God’s grace, I survived both of them. After the second mini stroke at age 15, the AVM was treated via Gamma Knife Radiation treatment. That one-time treatment did not come without future physical health complications and side effects, but it was definitely better than living with a ticking time bomb in my brain. 10 years later in 2021, I have been told that the AVM is finally gone. This is amazing news, but I still live with the after effects of the two mini strokes and radiation. To make a long story short, my health interests in college stemmed from my very own health history. Spending my time in college and learning the importance of personal, community and public health was a great interest of mine but I didn’t necessarily see myself making a career out of it.
I now live with a left sided weakness, some nerve damage and reoccurring intense migraines. Some weeks my day to day life can be difficult. My line of work allows me to be at home when I have one of my frequently intense migraines caused from my traumatic brain injury. Also, working from home as an entrepreneur allows me to have the time to attend my weekly physical therapy appointments. Due to these time consuming obstacles and responsibilities, I knew that I wanted to be in full control of my future career or job. I needed a career path that was flexible and understanding. I decided to employ myself as an entrepreneur. I knew that once I finished college I was going to want more than what my degree was going to offer me and that’s when I met Joey Braxton.
Joey is my boyfriend and business partner. We met the summer before my final year in college. Already a full-time entrepreneur at the time, Joey helped me believe and realize that I didn’t need a traditional job that wasn’t going to cater to my wants and needs after college. After that, I was convinced and set on the fact that I could create the life I wanted and gain the freedom I wanted on my own. If it weren’t for Joey, I wouldn’t be on this path. He’s taught me how to be a successful entrepreneur through experience and teamwork.
My teammate and business partner taught me everything I know about being my own boss. I am now a full-time entrepreneur, content creator, curator and model of fashion, beauty, health and lifestyle. My boyfriend and business partner, Joey Braxton and I have a few entrepreneurial ventures together. To begin with, we run an online Star Wars toy store called Boba Fett Fresh. Also, we create and curate content and have a photography business called Nashville Flashville. In addition, we run a small indie record label and recording studio. The two of us have recently relocated to Nashville from the Pacific North West. Since I graduated college in 2018, the two of us have brought our entrepreneurial ventures to and lived in Missoula, Montana, Salt Lake City, Utah, Charlotte, North Carolina and Boise, Idaho but Nashville, Tennessee stole our hearts. We saw a long-term future and a place to put down roots for our businesses and future in the thriving city of Nashville. Joey and I are new to Nashville and we are very excited to build and experience all that Nashville has to offer. If there’s one thing to be said about Nashville and why it won us over is that Nashville is a city of and for CREATIVES!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It’s never easy when you choose the road less traveled. Since becoming a full-time entrepreneur with my boyfriend and business partner, Joey Braxton, we have encountered our fair share of obstacles and challenges.
The first entrepreneurial venture I was a part of was a vintage sports apparel store. In time we discovered that the oversaturation within that particular market and niche was not going to get us to where we wanted to be as business owners. We made the difficult decision to slowly phase ourselves out of having vintage apparel be our primary business and main source of income.
Another venture that Joey and I did together was event planning. We planned, produced and hosted pub crawls, women’s events and networking events, concerts and vintage apparel pop ups throughout the nation. Joey taught me the ins and outs of event planning. We enjoyed the events and the networking that came along with them, but one thing you can’t predict is a pandemic! We have not produced events since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic and we currently don’t know if and when we’ll get back into doing them.
These particular obstacles came with difficult decisions that had to be made. When you put so much time and effort into something, seeing it not work out the way you had planned can be upsetting and discouraging. Joey and I did not get discouraged or stay upset. When something doesn’t work out the way you wanted it to, that’s just God’s way of telling you it wasn’t meant to be. We kept our heads up, made adjustments and tough decisions, adjusted our focus and completely pivoted our business strategies altogether. From these challenging obstacles, came blessings! After some uncertainty and continued hard work, the difficult decisions we made to change our entire entrepreneurial business strategies paid off.
Joey was a solo entrepreneur before I came along, learning to work together as a unit took some time and patience. It took time, but eventually we mastered it. We learned to work smarter, not harder as a unit. We each have our roles within our endeavors but work together as a team at the same time. When you’re an entrepreneur, time management can be crucial, but if you manage your time correctly, you can have a lot of time to work on things outside of “work”.
My journey so far as an entrepreneur and our journey together has not always been a smooth road. These challenges and obstacles helped shape us and bring us exactly where we are today. Business is now better than ever, we are living in a brand new beautiful city together and building our empire. We do what we love and we do it together. Joey and I have big plans for our online Star Wars toy store, photography and content creation ventures. I will never claim that this path I chose was easy but what I will say is that it is extremely rewarding!
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I would consider myself an all around creative. Most of what I do for a living revolves around creating content and sharpening your creative skills and mindset daily. I have been modeling for about three and a half years and have a wide range of interests that involve modeling from beauty, fashion, health, lifestyle and fitness. I collaborate with brands to promote their products as well as my own products by marketing with social media platforms and by cross-promoting, advertising and building within digital communities and niches. Social media marketing is something that I specialize in, but modeling with a business savvy purpose is what helped me discover a confidence level I never knew I could attain.
My boyfriend and business partner, Joey and I have a photography and videography business called Nashville Flashville. I’m not necessarily the genius behind the camera and editing but I do a lot of the modeling, scouting locations and creating and curating content ideas and concepts. I will step in as photographer when needed but Joey is the one with the keen eye and passion for photography. I just love to be a part of the creative process with him.
Our content creation goes beyond social media and photography but is also continuously a project for our online toy store. If you want to make a sale without having to be too salesy, your inventory display has to be on point, eye-catching and unique!
I would say what sets me apart from other creatives is my personality and viewpoint of the world. I’m here to work hard, succeed and build a beautiful life for myself because I was given not only a second chance at life but also a third and I will never stop reaching for the stars. In addition, coming from a small town is a reason that fuels me to want to see the world and broaden my horizons each and every day.
What I’m most proud of is the confidence I’ve gained in myself to do all of these things. I’ve overcome many insecurities and I don’t let myself or anyone else keep me from doing what I desire to do, even when it comes to some of the physical impairments that I have. Being able to become confident in myself, modeling, creating, curating, conducting and running a business as a person with a disability is the thing I am and will always be most proud of. I believe that being a renaissance woman in the 21st century is what is needed to break through your individual glass ceilings.
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained. I have always believed that if you’re not willing to take the risk for something great to be, nothing great will ever become. One thing I learned quickly was that entrepreneurship does not come without risk. You risk all certainty by betting on yourself. I do believe that if you work hard and believe that you can achieve your goals that your accomplishments will be well worth the risk you take. When taking a risk you have to be ALL IN.
I do see myself as a risk taker and taking on entrepreneurship directly out of college was a huge risk. There was a lot of uncertainty in the beginning but I knew that taking the risk rather than taking the job with the state right out of college would eventually get me the life and freedom I wanted. Taking a job with the state wouldn’t get me the life I wanted and needed in order to attain the financial freedom that I wanted as well as meet and cater to my health needs and responsibilities. Therefore, the conventional career path was not for me. I was willing to take a chance, I had to get comfortable with being uncomfortable to attain the life I ultimately wanted. There has been immense progress but the job isn’t done yet. I’m still learning, taking risks, and working hard to achieve that successful life I want to live. If you’re thinking about taking a risk that could change your life for the better, DO IT! *Emperor Palpatine voice* I did and I wouldn’t have done it any other way!
Contact Info:
- Email: chantenicole13@gmail.com
- Website: https://biracialbarbie.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chantenicole_/?hl=en
- Other: https://www.mercari.com/u/400617724/
Image Credits
Joey Braxton/Nashville Flashville
