Chantia Green, a self-described goofy and outgoing individual. She calls herself charismatic and says she’s not too shy to say how she feels. All of these characteristics she uses to describe herself are very much accurate whenever you sit down and have a conversation with her, but it makes you wonder how did Chantia become Chantia and who in her life influenced her to become the woman she is today?
Most people call themselves lucky if they live in a two-parent household; mom, dad, two and a half kids, a dog and a white picket fence. Chantia on the other hand didn’t grow up with that life. For the majority of her life, it was just her and her mother living in the same house in North Little Rock. Her father wasn’t there much, so her mother took hold of the task to take up both parental roles.
“I always say that a mother and daughter relationship is a lot crazier than a two-parent household, or even a daughter-father relationship,” Chantia said. “Two women in a house together for umpteen years is, like, insane, especially if you guys are so much alike.”
Chantia describes her mother as her “ride-or-die,” meaning it’s
her and her mother until the end. Having spent almost all their lives alone together, their bond couldn’t be more inseparable, almost like sisters.
“We love each other but we butt heads a lot,” she said. “When you are around someone as much as my mother and I are, you work each other’s nerves.”
Chantia’s uncle, Delaney Phillips, is a logistics officer in the Army, living in Detroit and also a UA Little Rock Mass Communications alumni. While her uncle didn’t influence her to go down the career path of journalism, choosing that path has bonded the two to an even deeper level.
“Us both being journalism majors gives us an extra topic to talk about on the phone,” Chantia said. “He tells me about his time at UA Little Rock, the professors he’s had and gives me advice to help me through college.”
With both her mother and uncle by her side, Chantia strives to join the military just like her uncle and one day use her degree in journalism and charismatic persona to become an on-air personality. So, while she didn’t have what most people would call an “ideal” upbringing, Chantia wouldn’t trade it for the world.
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