How Chantal Weaver learned to walk on fear

“Fear was my boyfriend.”

Chantal Weaver (MBA, 2022) is joking, but it’s a surprising admission given her professional success, clear ambition and outgoing demeanor. 

But appearances can be deceiving. As Weaver tells it, by the time she considered going back for her Master of Business Administration, pandemic lockdowns were in full swing, and she wanted to use the time at home as an opportunity to do something productive. But it had been years since she’d earned her bachelor’s degree, and she wasn’t sure how online school worked. Between the unknown and the prospect of taking math and English classes again, she wasn’t sure she could hack it. And that’s when fear arrived with “his” calling card.

“One of the greatest things that happened for me in this program was that it made me walk through and conquer fear like nothing else,” Weaver declares. Here’s how she emerged victorious.

Weaver had to overcome other challenges to set that example. She fretted over her math and English skills. “I had convinced myself that I didn’t have strong writing skills, so that was part of that fear package,” she explains.

But Weaver is not easily dissuaded from her goals. She leveraged resources designed to help adult learners, from online grammar tools to a tutor who helped her not only complete a difficult data analytics course but also earn an A in the class.

Weaver knew herself well enough to seek out personal connections with her instructors. Everyone has a different approach when it comes to when and how they like to communicate, she says.

“My first question in any class was, ‘How do I get in touch with you?’” Weaver explains. “I do not want to text you, nor do I want to just email you. I want to talk to you because there are so many interpretations through text and email.”

New challenges

Considering her ambition and drive, it’s no surprise that Weaver found additional ways to challenge herself outside the classroom.

Maybe it’s more accurate to say those ways found her.

In June 2022, she and her family were vacationing at a resort when Weaver got a phone call from the vice president of HR at her company. She wasn’t getting fired, however. She was getting a new role.

Weaver ultimately accepted a position as the hospital’s talent acquisition consultant for diversity and inclusion, but she experienced some trepidation.

“So again, Mr. Fear tried to show his ugly head again, because I was in a new career,” Weaver says. “So, I networked with people in this program whom I didn’t know. I built relationships, just like I did in the MBA program to help me get through.”

She did more than “get through.” One year after stepping into the role, she received the hospital’s Impact and Inspire Award.

For Kerek, her supervisor, this likely came as no surprise. “[Weaver] has held the talent acquisition DEI role for a year, and the work she has led has transformed the way that CCHMC recruits diverse applicants,” Kerek says. “She has partnered with and built relationships within Talent Acquisition, CCHMC and the extended community. It’s easy to see how much she loves her work, and we are better because of it.”

For Weaver, the award was a proud moment that speaks to her dedication. She is passionate about diversity and inclusion, and not just in terms of race or gender but in knowledge, experience and expertise. Her team embodies those virtues.

“Every single one of us brings something different to the table,” she says. “We’ve got strong writers. We’ve got social media people. We have people who want to train and develop other people. It’s just unbelievable, our team.”

People, relationships and hard work are at the core of what Weaver does, both professionally and as a means to overcome self-doubt and anxiety. She “walked on fear,” she says, when she graduated with her MBA in her 50s. She is thriving at work, and she sees her sons on the same path toward educational and professional success.

“It’s just so many wins happening right now in my life,” she says. “I’m just so grateful.”