In this Tub Talks, I get to soak in the unique wisdom of Chantel Jeffries. Chantel is known in the world for seemingly disparate things: being a DJ, investor, entrepreneur, and social media creator. She is simultaneously a mystery. However, this bathtub conversation is a treasure chest of knowledge that I’ve never heard her share before.
As we learn more about Chantel, we learn more about how interconnected all of these industries actually are. She articulates her multidisciplinary work approach as perceiving every ‘job’ as a fractal, in which all things are related to everything else. They all reflect each other.
Chantel started out making videos, and then became one of the first people to get partnerships with companies like Revolve, Samsung, Uber, and Loreal as a brand ambassador. In experiencing how deals like these were done, Chantel realized there was more opportunity to be had. Investing in companies and then supporting them made sense, because she believed in the product, and her value add was multifaceted: capital, network, audience… Chantel compares work life to playing games like Zelda or King of Hearts as a teenager, in which the player would go on a quest and have to collect the jewels or find the tools to get to the goal. The journey is the game. And the journey is meant to be enjoyed. Chantel enjoys her life quest.
In this episode, she shows us about her unorthodox approach to success and how our success can be limitless too. Chantel grew up in a military family, in which she learned the value of discipline and hard work. With these values instilled in her, Chantel shows us how taking risks aren’t really risks because if you put hard work into anything, something will give.
Chantel worked hard even as a young person, creating jobs for herself from the beginning. At 14, on the day she could get a job, she walked down the street and started at Arbys. Before that, Chantel did everything from babysitting, to washing cars and cat sitting for neighbors, to reselling her friends’ old phones on Ebay: hustling. Chantel has never been afraid to work hard.
Now, she doesn’t have to work so hard. She tells us about how to create systems and become the engineer of our lives. This approach requires thought. It requires mindfulness. It requires strategy. This approach offsets chaos and pressure. “There are infinite ways to do things,” Chantel shares, “How can I have the most enjoyment while doing them?”
Chantel is also not afraid to be authentically herself. In a sense, she is as she always has been. She tells us about rediscovering her old Macbook, in which photobooth she found the archive of videos she made from age 16 to 21. In these videos, Chantel would make videos (VLOGS) for her friends, and then answer questions from people on Tumblr, just for fun. Her life now and her hobbies now, are an extension of that joy. She keeps hobbies like tennis, golf, and rollerblading. She likes the aesthetic things in life and lives her life as if it were a hobby in itself: health is a hobby, figuring out equations is a hobby, decorating her house is a hobby… You get the picture. Chantel defines herself as curious and full of energy, and these hobbies definitely demonstrate that.
There is an incredible opportunity in listening to this conversation, and understanding the approach of someone who seems to ‘have it all’ and whose life may look like it came easy. It looks easy because Chantel has worked hard and made mindful and intelligent decisions. Her life approach is innovative. I hope you are as inspired by this conversation as I was. Soak it in!
