about

chantal

Award-winning serial entrepreneur, super mom and web expert.

When I first transitioned from a temporary council job to the council’s library department in my twenties, where I tinkered with systems and IT for the first time, I never imagined that I would mingle with the who’s who in the WordPress web development world so many years later!

Even with my toes in the sand (still in my twenties) on Pensacola Beach, Florida, after being stationed there by a much fancier, better paying job-based company that wrote programs and systems for huge firms, I didn’t have the faintest clue that I would one day own a web development business with an international audience of women who I am so incredibly proud of and inspired by!

where it all began

so, here’s the deal…

I have a national diploma in environmental health (long story which we can save for a podcast, ha!) and I have never worked a day in the industry. I flipped houses (before the advent of Youtube and Tiny Homes) and I established and franchised an award-winning exclusive sensual boutique for women called The Bedroom before I set up my first web design business, Cooked Media.

Turns out that having my own, small, web design biz was a little different from anything I’d ever done, even as someone who naturally excels at everything I put my mind to! My processes were wrong, the money wasn’t great and I had projects that just went on and on and on.

Thanks to Facebook, and a couple of Australian lads who were running with the one day website build concept at the time, I was inspired to pivot (while battling the flu, I might add!). By the end of that business changing day I had registered my .com and built my first one day website! *my own*

many websites later

and I have carved out a space for myself amongst my peers, some who build one day websites, and some who I hope I will convince one day!

When I am not talking someone off a Squarespace ledge (sorryyyy), or comparing notes with up and coming designers who want to learn the ropes in half the time (which is perfectly okay, by the way!) I like to stir things up and influence the industry by returning to my class representative days at uni and stating my case (and the case of some awful, and amazing plugins) to top WordPress personalities in the high-level masterminds I am part of so we can shake our bacon and make better websites for women like you!

If I didn’t love doing the creative projects I do, I would totally be inspiring and teaching others how to. I have a teacher's heart.

some interesting

(or boring)

facts about me:

About Chantal

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    My family lived in subsidized housing while I was growing up and when I completed high school, there was no money for me to go to university. *helloooo waitress job*

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    I once had an Opel Astra (dream car alert) that I drove way too fast! Now I'm rocking a mommy SUV *cringe*

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    At the height of my entrepreneurial success with The Bedroom, my mom was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. And just in case you think that nightmare clients don’t exist, while she was on her deathbed, I spent a lot of time on my laptop, working with them.

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    For my South African friends, I appeared in Pam Golding magazine for my decorating, despite having noooo training at all! I guess those design chops run deep.

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    Loads of people are surprised to hear that I became a first-time mom at the tender age of 42. It’s really just because I met my partner, Vince, later in life as well. My mom was a single parent, and while she did an incredible job raising my brother and I, it was hard work for her, and not something I chose for myself, so how incredible a life change it has been to fall in love and have a gorgeous toddler at this glorious age.

Is it too corny to say my greatest achievement is this wonderful family and my beautiful Charlie ... I love that doing what I do enables me to spend every afternoon with this amazing little girl!

these stats don’t lie...

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    My Kolbe A Index result is 4-3-8-4!According to this, my best way to gather and share information is to EXPLAIN! Which is great because you don’t need another web developer confusing the shit out of you!

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    Love the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator? I’m an ENTP and we’re sometimes referred to as the “Lawyer” type. The ENTP “lawyer” quickly and accurately understands a situation, and objectively and logically acts upon it. Makes sense why I can read your mind after one Zoom call, eh?

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    Prefer the good ol’ fashion DISC profile? My DISC style is iD and rightly so, it says I tend to speak freely with little concern about limiting my thoughts. When you book me for a build, you have total access to my unfiltered web development and business experience and I can’t hold out on you!

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    My Creative Type by Adobe describes me as The Adventurer! As an ADVENTURER, I’m never satisfied to just come up with ideas. Instead, I have an almost compulsive need to act on them. So when we work on your new online home, you’ll get no lofty promises from me, just plans of action waiting to happen!