Meet Rochelle Chapman

Today we’d like to introduce you to Rochelle Chapman.  

Hi Rochelle, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I started working temporarily for WSU not long after high school. I was a student there as well. Worked my way through school and up the ranks through WSU. I worked for various departments being promoted in each department that I worked in. I worked in Marketing, Development, Special Events, and Services the longest as an event manager. 

Three weeks before the shutdown of the pandemic, I started a new position as Community Engagement Coordinator for WSU Institute of Environmental Sciences – Center for Urban Responses to Environmental Stressors (CURES). 

(CURES) has a strong commitment to serving, informing, and learning from the community and fostering bi-directional communication between researchers and the public. The goals of the Community Engagement Core (CEC) are to: 

Foster collaborations and co-learning experiences for environmental health researchers and advocates, stakeholders, and individuals 

Serve as a resource for environmental health information, expertise, and advocacy. 

Promote environmental health science awareness. 

Advance the science of community engagement with research. 

My current position at CURES opened the door for an additional assignment as the Co-Director of the Faith Community Research Network (FCRN). 

Established in 2021, the Faith Community Research Network (FCRN) is a partnership between the Faith-Based Genetic Research Institute, Wayne State University, and Karmanos Cancer Institute. With a collective of 12 churches in metro Detroit, the FCRN is working to bridge the gap between our area’s health challenges and health solutions through dynamic people, programs, and research. 

I earned my bachelor’s degree in psychology from WSU, received a full scholarship for Columbia Theological University, where I completed a year of studies. I paused Columbia after much prayer and consideration to pursue my Master of Public Health from WSU School of Medicine. I am currently finishing my first semester in the MPH program. 

I am the proud wife of Pastor Fred Chapman, and we Pastor New Beginnings Bible Church in Detroit. 

I started a business Rochelle Chante’ Fedora’s in 2019, birthing out of my love for hats. 

We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It hasn’t been an easy road. I worked full-time while going to school. I took several breaks, and it took me 20 years before I obtained my bachelor’s degree. I was determined and focused not to give up. During this time as well, I started Pastoring a church for about 10 of those years, so that was my primary focus. 

I’ve learned how to face fears and go scared. I promised my parents and the elders in my family that I would finish what I started. 

I was an honor roll student throughout my school career, but I was challenged early on with a speech impediment, and for the first two years of my life, I wore braces on my legs because of damage during delivery. I learned to speak and to stand in the power of God. I had to quiet the negative voices, silence my inner critic, and trust that God would use me in the areas that I was challenged in the most. Now I preach and teach through the city, world, and I’ve preached internationally to the glory of God. 

Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I specialize in Community Engagement at CURES, and we advocate for Environmental Justice. I am proud of the work I get to be involved in. Often times people look at the City of Detroit and they talk about negative things like crime rates, abandoned homes, poverty, and blight, 

I look at these same things but from different perspectives, like what are the social determinants to health. What are the root causes to the way things are? What are the injustices or environmental racism that exists? What are residents of Detroit being exposed to daily? What’s the difference between equity and equality? 

We look at the scientific side and the practical everyday life side of environmental health and public health. Access is very important, whether it’s access to transportation, affordable housing, or access to healthy, affordable food. We consider what our residents are going through the amount of exposure to pollution that face communities of color and those that live below the poverty line, and we listen to the issues that they want to address. 

In terms of the FCRN, I am proud that my faith and my career are in sync. My mission is to help people wholistically, mind, body, soul, and spirit, as I learn as well. 

What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
I’ve learned that my journey doesn’t have to mirror anyone else’s journey. I learned to take the limits off of God and myself. There isn’t anything that I can’t do with God’s help, my consistency, discipline, and diligence. I have learned not to self-sabotage. To embrace fears head-on with unwavering faith. I’ve learned to go scared and not talk myself out of living the abundant life that God has planned for me. I’ve learned that you don’t have to compromise that you can realize every dream that God has purposed in your heart, and that you don’t have to choose between dreams, career, family, that none of those dreams have to be deferred. God placed so much inside of me, and He wants for me to fulfill it all. I’ve learned that people will try to box you in because they want company inside of the box. Some don’t mean any harm, while others do, but when you decide to leave comfort zones and boxes, it exposes those who decided to stay in the box by default. I desire for us all to realize are dreams and goals that God put inside of us; I have also learned that sometimes you have to climb out alone, and it will give others courage to join you. 

Contact Info:

• Website: www.rochellechante.com
• Instagram: @PastorRochelle
• Facebook: @RochelleChante
• Twitter: @PastorRochelle
• Youtube: New Beginnings Bible Church Detroit

Image Credits
Daryl Malone