10 Questions with Chantelle Isaacs

Chantelle does a little bit of everything for WASFAA - from serving on the Executive Council as our new Electronics Chair to bringing the fun as our Music Bingo DJ. But who is Chantelle when she's not volunteering? Let's find out!

1. What's something about you that people in WASFAA might be surprised to learn?

My go-to answer for this is that I wasn't born in the USA and didn't live here permanently until I was 18. My parents were missionaries in Côte d'Ivoire, West Africa and I lived there until I was 13, when we moved to Niger, West Africa. Whenever we'd come back to the USA, we would come to a small town in Southern California, so that's my easy answer to the "where are you from" question, but I'm always happy to talk about my upbringing overseas!

2. If you could describe yourself in three words, what would they be - and why?

• Multiclassed. (D&D-speak for someone who doesn't pick one class and stick with it.) I'm not someone who likes to stay in one lane - relationship management, websites, marketing, design, coaching, karaoke, crafting... I'm a Jackie-of-all-trades and love being able to stretch my skillset to new fun areas.
• Connective. Almost everything I do is about getting people into the right room and making them feel like they belong there.
• High-floor. I take pride in my work and don't like to ship things below a certain line. I know what "done and good" looks like, and I know when something needs to be great versus good enough.

3. You've taken on a new role as WASFAA's Electronics Chair. What made you want to step into this position, and what are you most excited about?

Storytime - during the great year of 2020 when the world was shut down by a global pandemic, I was furloughed from my job and I enrolled in a coding bootcamp. I learned a ton, and was fully expecting to transition into the tech industry as a junior web developer. Fortuitously, I got my previous job back after graduating from the bootcamp, and didn't have to job hunt in a post-covid world. I had all these web skills in my back pocket, and now in my current role, I'm able to use them to the benefit of WASFAA and other state associations. Last year, I volunteered to help clean up and organize webpages that were just old and outdated. This year as chair I have a few goals:

• Equip the chairs and volunteers of other committees with tools to be self-sufficient
• Raise the bar on how we use our website to drive engagement
• Optimize the pages and content we have to be as clear and useful as possible

4. If you could wave a magic wand and make one thing happen for WASFAA this year, what would you choose?

OMG, I'm so excited about the WASFAA conference being in Alaska this year! If I could wave a magic wand, I'd want EVERYONE to be there!

5. What's your ideal way to spend a day when you're NOT working or volunteering?

That depends - is my kiddo around or not? If I'm with him, we've really been enjoying going to the zoo together. If I'm solo, then listening to an audio book (I'm DEEP in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series!) and doing something crafty.

6. WASFAA is full of people who give their time and talents in so many different ways. What do you enjoy most about being part of the WASFAA community?

The camaraderie. Being a part of a group of people who care about the same things and care about each other is a powerful thing. I think it helps us be our best selves.

7. What's one thing you hope to learn, accomplish, or grow in personally or professionally during your time on the EC this year?

I am honored to be the Electronics Committee chair but I'm under zero impression that I know it all! I want to learn everything I can about how our platform works so I can be a useful partner to whoever needs it.

8. What's something you're really proud of - either in your career, your life, or your WASFAA journey?

So, I've alluded to my love of Dungeons and Dragons above. I have been playing for about 6 years now, and I've turned that love of the game into a whole suite of professional development talks and sessions. I've created 2 D&D themed talks that I've given at over a dozen conferences in the last two years (including the last two NASFAA conferences), and am working on a third that I believe will debut at the WFAA conference in late October! I've also created a full-day team building workshop where everyone actually PLAYS D&D together and works through skill-inventory exercises and stretches creativity, improvisation, and play in the workplace. I would love to do more of these workshops for teams!

9. Since we can't let you escape without at least ONE music question... what song would be the soundtrack for the work you're doing for WASFAA this year?

Oooh this is tough. The song that is sticking with me as I think about this is "Legend (ft. Backchat)" by Jaroslav Beck from the Beat Saber soundtrack! I want WASFAA to be LEGENDARY.

10. Fast forward to the end of this WASFAA year: What do you hope members will say about the year we had?

See above! Legendary! I want people to be proud of what they contributed to, and see how (despite the craziness of the world) WASFAA made their lives better.