Chandra Palmer

I met Chandra through the Women’s Leadership Mentoring Program (part of Chicago Women In Philanthropy). Since the first time we met, I have always enjoyed Chandra’s intelligence, insight and sense of humor. When I ask her about what she considers her origin story, she reflects on her childhood, as a mixed race child in a small Illinois town. Teachers were not supportive, mistaking her boredom due to not being challenged at school as poor behavior. She remembers being told that the only career she could likely be in was as a teacher. While she enjoys teaching, along the years she realized that being in a classroom was not how she envisioned her career.

She went to college focusing on Early Childhood Education with a major in French. Her first year field experience solidified her realization that public education was not a good fit for her. It was her international studies class in college, taught by Dr. Wells, that changed her life trajectory as she understood that through the human development component of international studies she could continue to do good for the world.

She went on to do a Master’s in International Development at the University of Denver, fearful only about her statistics classes. A typical career post grad school in this case meant going abroad (USAID), or joining an INGO or doing policy work. While interning in DC, her father passed away, which in some ways changed the course of life she had been on. In 2009, the recession made it a tougher market to find jobs and she landed moving back to Illinois, and eventually Chicago.

As she muses about the sorts of mismatched job offers she was getting at that time, she talks about a job she was offered on the spot and which she took on the spot as well. In retrospect she would have done that differently, learned more about the boss, perhaps negotiated salary etc. This was definitely a difficult experience, working for a tyrannical boss with little to no empathy. She switched roles to working in a different department, with far better faculty. However, as one would expect, faculty were most focused on students, classes and research, and not on her development.

This is when she wrote down what she wanted, and as you will see, eventually manifested. She wanted a better paying, international development job and to live in Chicago. Having received a small scholarship from Rotary International, she became determined to work there because she knew their work closely aligned with international development. She applied and worked there in grantmaking for almost 8 years, before landing in her current role at the MacArthur Foundation.

I ask her about what keeps her going and she laughs that she has an ongoing existential conversation with herself about what radical things she could be doing if freed from the daily grind. Her new role allows her to center equity in her daily work, and is no longer ad hoc, which helps with professional fulfilment.

On a personal level, burlesque is her fun and creative outlet. She gets to see others express themselves. She started to go and see some shows in 2018, and thought that it was interesting that no one performing looked like her. Once home, she started researching and never looked back – she now travels for performances as well. 

Chandra of the future hopes to be surrounded by the people she loves, as well to find community and joy. She does wonder if she would know more about the sorts of opportunities available to her if she had supportive teachers while growing up. 

In addition to Dr. Wells, who taught her in college, her parents have both had a strong influence on her, always advocating for her. Her grandmother, Naomi Violet Palmer, was also instrumental in shaping Chandra’s life. She mentions that her granny, a Black woman, was albino with snow white hair and hazel eyes, and she taught Chandra about what Blackness is, in culture and beyond just color. Chandra looks a lot like her as well, and will always remember her as a fiercely independent woman and community activist, a role model for her life.

She talks about her realization over a long period of time that she doesn’t identify with the gender assigned to her at birth, and recognizes both feminine and masculine energy in herself. As she met other queer people, she has been able to build community to allow her to explore and own her gender identity. This is something she has had to hide completely in conservative environments, although that is shifting now. Her pronouns (she/her) confuse people who try to match them up with her non-binary identity, but as with burlesque, she has realized that she needs to do what is best for her.