Chantrice Sims Holliman

By Patricia M. Hammock, M.Ed./AET

Dr. Chantrise Sims Holliman is a woman of herculean strength and unimaginable resiliency who has thrived through circumstances which would have toppled most others. Dr. Sims Holliman, with an earned Doctorate in Education in School Improvement, whose dissertation topic was Emotional Intelligence, was a full-time educator living her best life in in the spring of 2018.

She was gleefully married to her husband of 10 years, Reverend Carson Holliman, Jr., Pastor of New Grant Chapel AME Church in East Point, Georgia. She was demonstrating excellence as the Director of professional learning for a set of charter schools in Atlanta. Dr. Sims Holliman was a loving mother to her children, bonus children, and to her students, whom she loved as her own. Chantrise ate healthy, drank green smoothies, stayed hydrated with water, ran five miles per day, participated in 5K and 10K marathons and was mindful of her stress level.

Although, diagnosed with systemic lupus in 2006, Dr. Sims Holliman continued to thrive without an inkling that her life would soon be threatened. The only precursor to her impending life-changing illness was a brief bout of vertigo in the weeks prior. Though she thought the vertigo may have been related to her lupus, when she saw her physician, her blood pressure, which had always been 120/80, was sky-high. She was prescribed blood pressure medication; purchased a blood pressure cuff; was compliant with her medication; monitored her health and continued living life …. until March 23, 2018.

Chantrise suffered what is grimly known as a “widow-maker” heart attack where she coded nine times as doctors sought to stabilize her and was not expected to live. Within 24 hours of his wife’s heart attack, doctors told her husband he should ask the family to get there as soon as possible. Reverend Holliman called Chantrise’s best friend and her daughter, Astede, who was a junior at LSU at the time. Chantrise’s best friend

Chantrise Sims Holliman, Ed.D. Author, Motivational Speaker & Educational Consultant

called her parents in Massachusetts with the doctor’s grim news.

When her parents arrived at the airport in Boston, MA, there were no flights to Atlanta available. Frantic, Dr. Holliman’s parents had to wait 24 hours until they could make the next earliest flight knowing doctors had given their daughter a 50/50 chance of survival.

When Chantrise regained consciousness, her cardiologist said, “You are not supposed to be here. Three men stricken with the same “widow-maker” on the same day as you, died. If I did not believe in God before, I believe in Him, now.” He continued by saying that the only reason her body was able to fight its way back from such trauma is because she was so healthy and had taken such great care of herself.

That was the good news. Unfortunately, while in the hospital recovering, she was told that due to an infection believed to have been borne of the heart attack, she would lose her right leg above the knee and ultimately her left leg below. The attack left Chantrise a partial paraplegic and bilateral amputee when she was only in her 40s.

Though grateful for life, Dr. Sims Holliman said she and God were not on the best of terms. She said, “As a believer, we are shaken when things don’t happen the way we thought they would.” She was angry. She was soul-searching. She was praying and praying and not hearing any response. She wondered, “God, what am I supposed to do with this? I was a runner. I was active – now what?”

It was in this dark hour, that God revealed Jeremiah Chapter 29, verse 11 to her, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Dr. Sims Holliman said if she had faith and believed in God, she would have to either believe everything He said or nothing. Chantrise said, “This was the hardest scripture for me to come to terms with, but it is also the scripture that saved my life. Once I embraced this scripture, the weight fell off and my confidence began to grow so that I could become who God had created me to be.”

Chantrise said, “I had to think differently about myself, my abilities and my future. I embraced cognitive flexibility when I did not know it was a term or that it would be the springboard for my comeback”. There came a point at which she made a post on social media, asking women what they struggled with; what kept them stuck? The response was overwhelming. Now, she works with female professionals, educators and entrepreneurs on getting unstuck and bouncing back when life throws curveballs.

When Chantrise became ill, her family was still reeling from the Father’s Day 2017 murders of Reverend Holliman’s parents and son, Christopher. Dr. Sims Holliman’s heart attack affected her entire family, albeit not in ways one might think. Chantrise is a wife and mother of four living children and a grandmother of two. Her daughter, Astede, said she knew her mother was going to be okay, because God told her, so she flew back to Louisiana while her mother was still hospitalized and aced her mid-term examinations. She said, “If she were to have died, my mother would have haunted me forever had I not taken my mid-terms”. The now 22-year-old ended that semester with the highest GPA of her college career and then graduated a semester early. Chantrise’s husband was steadfast in his ministry, remained her provider, her protector, and somehow managed to be a comforter to all who needed it. “I was in the hospital from March 23 – June 22, 2018. The first thing I did as soon as I was able, was to go to the beauty shop and get my hair done. I had been gravely ill for a long time. I did not feel like myself. When I got my short blond hair back, I looked in the mirror, I saw myself for the first time

in months.” I said, “I know that face. Let me see what else I can get back.” Dr. Sims Holliman began to regain her independence. She had to learn how to drive and does so now with hand controls. She purchased a lightweight wheelchair she could maneuver in and out of the car by herself and began speaking in public, again.

She thought when she regained her health and independence, she would return to her role as an educator where she had spent her career being the teacher she never had. For a number of reasons, this did not occur. She was unemployed and unable to pursue her passion as an educator in the sense that she had known it before the attack, paralysis and amputations. In this valley, she sought out a brand strategist who told her, “Chantrise, you are your own brand, now let’s get to work.”

Although she claims, with humility, to be “smoothing out the edges” on this transition, Dr. Sims Holliman is wracking up the accolades as a globally known author, motivational speaker and consultant to educators and female entrepreneurs and professionals. As a Who’s Who in Black Atlanta and The Strength of a Woman Awards honoree, a featured presenter at the National ASCD Conference, speaker at TEDx Chandler’s Creek guest lecturer at Kennesaw State University, Dr. Chantrise Sims Holliman is best known for teaching others how to move mountains—academically, professionally and personally. Her message of hope, resilience and flexible thinking transforms the lives of audiences worldwide, allowing them to triumph over fear and failure into a life of perpetual faith.

Dr. Chantrise’s August 2019 TEDx Talk focused on Cognitive Flexibility and was entitled, “How Cognitive Flexibility Saved My Life”. She has authored numerous books and other educational products. In addition to TeachStayLove: A Reflective Journal to Help You Stay in the Profession You Love and Shoes Without Feet: A Journey of Strength, Hope, Obstacles, Encouragement, and Success, currently available on Amazon and her third book, Noah Had an Ark. You Need a R.A.F.T.: Resiliency and Flexible Thinking is sure to catapult readers to new levels in business, ministry and life in general. Chantrise is also a contributing author for The Gyrlfriends Code: Women’s Empowerment Breakthrough Edition.

Dr. Sims Holliman is humbled to be recognized by Women Who Rock Nashville. She loves the city! She is honored and grateful that she made her healing public on purpose. She engaged social media a lot, she says, “because God told her to” and she believes that we don’t go through things for ourselves; we experience challenges for the other people who have not made it yet. Dr. Sims Holliman said, “People’s lives are waiting in the balance for you to tell your story. By being authentic and transparent, God has given me a platform. If one person sees my smile and can get encouragement as a result, then I know I am walking in my purpose, whether I have legs or not”.

Chantrise said it is important to recognize women because women have gone unnoticed so often in history. “It is only in my lifetime that women are starting to get the kind of recognition they deserve in every arena. Women have been making miracles at home for millennia, but women have also been making strides in mathematics, science, technology, education and the arts – that needs to be recognized”.

At the conclusion of our interview, I asked Chantrise what advice she would give to her five-year-old self. She was moved and then said, “I would tell her, don’t worry about the bullies. Don’t worry about the people who say you can’t because one day, you are going to prove them all wrong!”

For booking or interviews, email info@drchantrise.com or call 404.736.7290. To get the latest updates on book signings, speaking engagements, and new releases, visit www.drchantrise.com