We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Chanice Ball . We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Chanice below.

Chanice , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s start with education – we’d love to hear your thoughts about how we can better prepare students for a more fulfilling life and career.

I come from a family where education was super important. Both of my parents are college graduates, my grandmother was a schoolteacher and many people in my family have gone on to complete higher education, and as a college graduate myself, I was raised knowing that education is a top priority and something that no one can take away from you. I do believe that the word education is often misinterpreted though, meaning that it can only be received one kind of way, which is typically through formal institutional schooling, and through life, I have learned that this is no longer the case. Now being out of college for some years now, I often reflect on my years in the education system, especially being a person now who works in the creative industry and followed a path that completely deviated from what I was studying in school and what I have a degree in. So I think that the education system can change by really being less forceful in trying to create robots and workers in our society and putting more emphasis on providing students with more opportunities, especially being a place that they go to every single day, towards growing their own natural talents and interests and put more of an emphasis on developing useful skillsets before we force them to learn things that may or may not be helpful to them in their lives. I think a lot of the curriculum we learn can be important, but there’s a running joke when you get older where we just think back on what we’ve learned and say “We don’t even use this” or “We do not need that, why did I need to learn that?”. I think that not everyone needs to learn the same things. It’s okay if there’s one student that really loves engineering, so maybe their course load is for sure math and sciences, but what about a student who really wants to be a graphic designer? Maybe their curriculum is more computer and creative-based. So I feel that preparing students to live a more fulfilling life would be more so providing them with the tools to naturally aid what they already have an interest in or talents in. I think schools could do a better job at cultivating this if they really took the time to pay attention to it.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

For those who do not know me, my name Chanice Ball. I am a commercial model, content creator, and video editor here in Los Angeles, CA. I have my own company called Choose Joy Entertainment, where I provide video editing and creative digital assets/ services. What sets me apart from others is my energy. I am a serial optimist, always looking on the bright side of things and actively making choices to choose joy in all aspects of my life, especially in the creative space. I am most proud of my resilience and ability to pivot in new directions when needed. I want you all to know that whether we are working together, collaborating, or just meeting for the first time, it will always be good energy, which I think is super important in business especially and often gets overlooked. I always have a smile on my face and I am dedicated to creating amazing content for people that hopefully can inspire, provide relief from the hustle and bustle of their every day, and watch something or look at something that we made, to aid in feeling like their most joyous self.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

I think the most rewarding aspect of being creative is the freedom that I have. I for sure am a person who does not like having a boss or being told what to do and when to do it, so being able to work for myself and be myself within my work has helped me discover all the many talents, interests, and skillsets I have because I have free range to let those things emerge naturally.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Immediately, my first response would take us back to three years ago when COVID hit us all and we were in a global pandemic. I had only been living in California for only four months, I just moved here to pursue my career as a commercial actress and model and the industry completely shut down, and I really had to think about what else I had in my box of skills to still allow me to still financially take care of myself. I had some very basic video editing knowledge doing a little bit of Youtube and a little bit of social content, but nothing too crazy, and I had just decided I am going to go full throttle with really teaching myself and learning how to edit videos. it will be something that all industries need, especially with everyone being at home, and it was an avenue that made me feel like I would always have a job. I would watch countless videos on youtube (Youtube University they call it), and I would go shoot things myself and edit them myself. I would tell everyone I met that I was a video editor, even though I had no idea what the hell I was doing, just to see if they would give me the opportunity to practice my skills. Now three years later, I have my own company, creative partners, and assistance with those creative jobs/opportunities that I get and really just continuing to grow this part of my journey where now it’s like 80% of what I do, where before was like 10 or 20%.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.chaniceball.com | www.choosejoyent.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/chaniceball
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/chaniceball
• Youtube: www.youtube.com/chaniceball

Image Credits
Anthony Rose Ma’Kala Lee