Coming to Mizzou, I didn’t really know anyone and so I’m like, ‘this is a good start trying out for Mizzou Idol could be a way to express myself and share my talents with everyone.’ And it was kind of scary because I’m exposing myself to people and so, freshman year it wasn’t that great, I was a wildcard and I didn’t really know many people, so, no one really voted for me to move on and it was kind of disappointing. And then I decided sophomore year I’m going to do this, this is going to be my time. I’m like, ‘I know the strategy, I know how it’s going to work out—you got this Chantel.’ So, I auditioned again and made it to semi-finals, made it to top 5 but then I didn’t place again and so it was like, ‘okay; maybe I shouldn’t do this and maybe this isn’t what my calling is.’ It’s crazy how one judge or a couple of judges or what the people say can really either bring you up or shut down all your dreams. I’m like, ‘maybe I should move on,’ but I said no, ‘my mama taught me to keep trying so I’m going to trying again.’ And I said, ‘this is it, I’m not auditioning again after this, I’m doing other things; I’m just going to go for it …”
I studied the music like it was a Bible. I studied Tina Turner’s moves, I studied Beyoncé’s emotions, I studied the emotions behind the words and I was like, ‘this is it, I got this.’ So, when I competed and I gave it my all, the audience loved it and I won! And I was just like, ‘Oh wow! This happened.’ And I didn’t know what my reaction was supposed to be, so, I’m just smiling and it really proved to me that don’t give up because no matter how many people say no to you there’s always going to be that one person that says yes. And I think from here on now, I’m just going to keep pushing and until that one person says yes to me, I’m not going to stop and whoever says yes to me is never going to regret that decision.
