Age: 37
Program and Operations Director, Fox Valley Literacy
Prior to coming to Fox Valley Literacy in 2018, Heather Chantelois-Kashal worked as a public health consultant, “bringing research expertise to programs building women and children’s health and protecting women and girls from gender-based violence in sub-Saharan Africa,” Chantelois-Kashal says. “I also worked as an advocate at Harbor House domestic abuse programs.”
Chantelois-Kashal earned a degree in international studies and African studies from Indiana University-Bloomington, and after earning a master of arts in conflict resolution from Georgetown University, she returned to the Fox Valley. That decision “gave me the opportunity to grow a sense of belonging to a place for the first time and fall in love with serving my home community,” she says.
Chantelois-Kashal was named to her current position in January 2024 and is most proud of “building a sustainable organization where staff can flourish and our impact can expand.”
Best advice: Give yourself permission to be imperfect and to begin again. Follow what gives you energy, stay with what gives you peace and always treat others with respect and care. How you treat yourself and others along your path is much more important than where you end up.
The region’s biggest challenge: Wealth inequity. Families who already have wealth can keep building it. Families who don’t are stuck in nearly impossible situations. Create a fund for interest-free loans to help families without generational wealth get their feet in the door and not be pulled back under by debt.
Next decade’s goals: Learn to speak Spanish better, build another programs department within Fox Valley Literacy to increase our impact and capacity, fully rebuild my strength after two kids and cancer, help my kids to learn to read and speak at least everyday French and Swahili.
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