Christa Chambers-Price, Founder
’Doing what needs to be done even when you're afraid is tough but sometimes you need someone who can grab you by the proverbial collar and drag you across the field to the finish line. That’s my job. And I love my job.’
Christa is a brand and marketing strategist. Her mission is to help founders flex. Her purpose is to ensure that no innovator gets left behind. For over 25 years, Christa has guided digital tech and social impact teams from urban cities to HBCUs, as they transform big ideas that scale and craft compelling narratives that invite markets and investors to support them. A former Military Intelligence and Combat Telecommunications Army National Guard veteran (72E) and a former FBI Fingerprint analyst, Christa graduated from the University of Michigan and is currently completing Stanford's Graduate School of Business Leadership and Innovation program.
Experience
Entre-SLAM - Brand storytelling series for entrepreneurs
Designer and Lead Facilitator American Heart Association Business Accelerator
Chief Marketing Officer for Alerje, Inc. - a digital health company.
Highlights
She has recruited, trained, and helped lift over 100 tech and social impact founders of color and HBCU student innovators to national stages. Alumnae of her work has gone on to be a Top 10 Finalist for the celebrity-studded CNN's Hero's Celebration and recognized by major media outlets like Forbes and Fast Company.
Within four years of launch, grants for the accelerator grew by 1400%.
She is the author of Launching Founders: Vols 1, 2, and 3.
Christa is a member of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Creative Cities network, an initiative that has identified the critical need to include innovation, design, and creativity as strategic factors for sustainable urban innovation.
Education
The University of Michigan
Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business LEAD
Katiuska Molina-Luna, Ph.D. Behavioral Science and Translations (Spanish, German, and French)
Katiuska is a Neuroscientist by training, she brings expertise in behavioral sciences and broad cultural experience to Entre-SLAM. A native bilingual English-Spanish speaker, fluent in French and in German, Katiuska is particularly skilled at raising awareness around cultural differences, helping bridge communication gaps and enabling collaborative partnerships that result in positive outcomes.
Education
University of Tubingen
Project Management Institute (PMI)
University of Michigan
Case Studies
The American Heart Association
Nationwide campaigns to scale innovation that addresses health inequities.
Markets: Tech, Social Enterprise, Non-Profits, & HBCUs
The Michigan Good Food Fund
A six-week intensive for Detroit Area good food entrepreneurs that was powered by both The Michigan Good Food Fund a $30 million fund and Bank of America
Markets: Food-based Businesses
Alerje, Inc.
Alerje is a Detroit-based food allergy innovation startup focused on increasing the quality of life for the millions dealing with life-threatening food allergies. Its technology simplifies food allergy management, reducing the stress for caregivers as they strive to prevent anaphylaxis incidents.
From the Christa’s Desk: Why I MUST Do What I Do
(an excerpt from Launching Founders: An Illustrated Brand Story Builder, Vol. 1)
I remember the moment vividly . . .
As I sat in the conference room determined to fake it after a particularly brutal week 'at the office', the burning truth of my reality was tearing me up inside. My outward boldness was a complete cover for the sheer terror I was feeling inside.
The country was in the deepest point of the Great Recession. We were hanging on, barely. Our team kept Entre-SLAM events going so that we could do our part to help keep entrepreneurs together and supportive of each other. We made our typical amount of money at these events, which was a whopping $65 (or less). In this instance, a competitor showed up, took over the city and debuted their event, on the same night, at the same hour and three doors down from our event. We got our ass handed to us. We had about 50 people show up, which was typical. This new crew showed up and attracted over 1,000 people. OUCH!! I had a meeting with our advisor the next morning. I knew that he had heard about the fiasco.
I wasn't fully present in that conference room, if I were honest. I was calculating the number days left of food for four people, when the mortgage had to be paid (or else), and there was less than a quarter tank of gas in the car. Brad (name change here…smiles), came in with one of his colleagues, super distracted, and punching furiously into his phone. I suspected his day was just as jacked as mine. It's all relative. He looked up and said just said, 'What's up?' After sharing with him, yet another idea to pivot Entre-SLAM to, he snapped:
Brad: 'Christa what are you doing?' The room all of sudden felt thick with his (almost) unleashed rage.
Me: 'What? I'm trying to save this thing!'
Brad: 'No. NO. What the f*ck are YOU doing, really?! WHY are you doing this? WHY are you torturing yourself with this?'
Me: 'Oh, I'll tell ya . . .'
Brad interrupted with a hand up: 'NO...don't answer right now because I can guarantee you, that you don't know the answer. The RIGHT answer. This is what I want you to do. Go and think about what you're really doing and why anybody should give a shit about it.'
Me: 'But...'
Brad: 'GIVE yourself the space and time to think about the answer AND...don't come back to me until you've figured it out!'
He grabbed his cell phone and walked out.
Brutal.
I made it to the parking structure, got in the car, put the key in the ignition and just broke down in tears. I knew deep down that he was right. Not only could I not answer the question, I didn't know where to start to find the answers.
So I shut everything down and to do exactly that: find the answer to the big question, 'why'.
During that time, I forced myself not to force the answer. Sure, there was Simon Sinek's take on discovering your brand's why. What I didn't know how to answer was my personal why. After all, I am the person/leader behind the brand. But, in that moment, my personal and business brand's why were miles apart. So, I continued on the lonely journey. Because of the recession, jobs were few and far between. To make money, I cleaned houses and worked at a temp agency to do transcription work. Both experiences taught me that while I was certainly capable of doing these types of jobs, why I existed in the world, my gift, was starting to sit up, quietly in the back of my heart.
After two months, I finally turned back to my business and asked the question, 'Why?'. I read Simon Sinek's book again and felt some comfort and direction. But it didn't address the bigger question, 'Why me?'
At that moment, I remembered. Looking back, I ended up being surprised that the answer was there all along. That 'aha' moment had nothing to do with the 'brand' and everything to do with why the brand existed and why I was uniquely qualified to lead it.
You’re In The Army Now
During my time as a brand new private in the Military Intelligence division of the US Army, I remembered the moment when I had to literally drag another soldier across the field during a live ammunition, evening exercise because she was froze in fear in the middle of the field. The Army did a very good job with simulating a combat experience. However, the prospect of allowing fear to keep me from graduating and having to potentially repeat all of Basic Training was even more terrifying. That evening, as the tracer rounds raced across the sky and the TNT bunkers exploded throughout the course throwing dirt around us, I remember many squad members low crawling past her. I couldn't. I grabbed her by the collar and we low-crawled together to finish the course.
And we were the last ones across the field. Which is bad. Very bad.
The drill sergeant made sure that we knew, in front of the entire platoon, that we came in last and were at risk of repeating the entire Basic Training. (graduation was in two weeks.) But then he turned to the rest of the platoon and let everyone else know that they failed the course because they left two ‘men’ on the field. And in the Army, ‘Nobody gets left behind. Nobody.’
My Purpose: Why I Must Do What I Do
The experience was powerful because it ended up defining why I'm dedicated to ensuring a company’s direction/focus/purpose rises to the occasion. I see it like this, if someone has the guts to 'get on the field' then no one should get left behind. I couldn't just leave her because I not only did I know that she was capable of being stronger than she felt at the time, I knew exactly what it felt like to be left behind. Doing what needs to be done even when we're afraid is tough but sometimes you need someone who can grab you by the proverbial collar and drag you across the field to the finish line. That moment defined the baseline story behind what I do and why, that energy, that promise, is what I bring to every conversation and experience when I sit across from a founder who has that fire to 'get it done' but has lost his/her way.
It's an honor to be a part of each of these journeys because at the end of the day, it's the story you don't tell that is probably the one that the world really wants to know about.
Christa Chambers-Price
CEO - Entre-SLAM, Inc.
Doing what needs to be done even when we're afraid is tough but sometimes you need someone who can grab you by the proverbial collar and drag you across the field to the finish line.
“Christa’s work is nothing short of genius. No one else is doing what she is doing. Going through this process has revitalized our vision, injected the entire team with enthusiasm, and given us clear goals to target. We have widened the scope of our offerings, expanded our market and developed a concrete plan to move us forward.
Jeanne Ballew, Founder, Edit Prose