She glows : Chynna Presley

CHYNNA PRESLEY

By Jennie Renner | Photo by Tim Brumbeloe Chynna Presley was born in Indiana, spent the first five years of her life in Denver, and then moved to New Philadelphia, Ohio, where she grew up. When her family moved there, Presley said they were one of very few families of color.

As Presley was finishing high school and starting to think about where she would attend college, she knew she wanted to move away from her hometown. She said she never really felt like it was home and didn’t want to leave to go to school only to come back again. “In my young mind, I thought the only way to avoid that was to go out of state,” she said. Presley wanted to go to a Christian college and made an agreement with her parents that going out of state meant Indiana, since she had family there. In her sophomore and junior years of high school, she visited many colleges that met her criteria, but hadn’t settled on any of them. Then she and her parents visited Huntington College, now Huntington University. From the moment she walked onto the campus, she felt like she had found the right college, but didn’t want to say it out loud at first. “And then my dad said, ‘I think this is it.’ And my mom said, ‘that’s what I was feeling too.’” And Presley agreed, even though she hadn’t even gone through the campus visit yet. “I just knew that that was where I was supposed to be.” Presley earned her Bachelor of Social Work degree in 2007 from Huntington and later went on to get a master’s degree in organizational leadership. She joined Huntington University’s faculty in the fall of 2020 to do work in the diversity, equity, and inclusion realm. “The draw for me is that Huntington is my alma mater and I wanted to serve as the representation that I never had.” In her job as director of intercultural enrichment at the university, Presley found it ironic to have an office with a window that overlooked the very spot where she and her parents stood and felt that this was the college she should attend. But Pressley also found it funny that she thought it was going to be for just four years. “The Lord had a bigger plan in place,” said Pressley. “He brought me back 13 years after I graduated, for me to look at that very spot — to be reminded that He’s been in control this entire time.” And now, as Presley is leaving her post at the university, she is excited to see what God has in store for her next. Ultimately, she would like to expand the consulting business that she started in October, but she’s not sure if she’s ready to do that full time. “Normally I would have already set up my plan C, D, and E, but I’m trying not to do that just yet… I’m trying to be diligent in allowing the Lord to direct my steps.” a • Moving Forward Rehabilitation • Auguste’s Cottage Memory Care • Long-term Care • Respite Care • Hospice Care • Outpatient Therapy

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