Rising Stars: Meet Kelley Carpenter of Overland Park

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kelley Carpenter.

Hi Kelley, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
When I was a little girl, I was fascinated by stories. I started reading early, and I couldn’t get enough books. I inhaled them and read my favorites over and over. I learned to write early as well. More than just reading books, I wanted to tell stories, so, at age 5, I started quietly watching everything around me in my neighborhood and would come back to my grandmother’s house and draw pictures and write about what I had seen. I knew from an early age I wanted to be a writer and storyteller. Many years have passed, but my love of reading, writing, and storytelling has never changed and has always been the basis of my job, even when I have made major changes in my career. After becoming the first person in my family to graduate from college, I was a newspaper journalist. After a few years in journalism, I decided to transition to working at a nonprofit organization where I could more actively use my storytelling skills to help people. Recently, I transitioned to running my own business, Chapters KC LLC, which provides strategic storytelling services for nonprofit organizations. The little girl became a woman who never stopped reading, writing, watching people, and telling their stories.

Please talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned. Looking back, has it been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I had a very chaotic childhood and suffered a lot of trauma. There were many obstacles in my life, from being born into an alcoholic family with a lot of violence and abuse to being raised by a struggling single mother, moving a lot, and changing schools many different times. The one thing I always found comfort in was my books and my stories. They went everywhere with me, always my solace and comfort. My ability to express myself in writing was also key to my survival. Journaling helped me process the things that constructively happened to me. Though I have struggled throughout my life with depression and anxiety, I have always known deep inside that I wouldn’t fail. My resilience and drive to survive were inextinguishable. I am grateful for that strength. I have been incredibly blessed in adulthood to be married for 25 years to an excellent partner who has been my rock. While I didn’t have a positive male role model, I married one. He is an integral part of my personal and professional life. I also believe that all of my experiences, both good and bad, have helped me be a better person and storyteller. I can talk to anyone, but more importantly, I know how to listen and not just wait to ask the following question on my list. Being a good storyteller means hearing the little clues people give you to go down a different path where their story takes you. I also feel like my personal struggles and experiences have given me the empathy and compassion to tell stories in a way that protects the dignity of other human beings.

Let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
For the past 25 years, I have worked as a nonprofit leader in marketing and fundraising. I told authentic stories to help raise awareness and money for important charitable causes like children in foster care, hunger, and homelessness. I brought authenticity to my relationships and how I connected with donors. I connected them to the cause by sharing meaningful details of both people being served and the joy of giving experienced by other donors. In my job as Chief Storyteller at Chapters KC, I continue using my creative gifts to help area nonprofits tell their stories in a meaningful way that helps them connect with people while still protecting the dignity of the subjects of those stories. I help create written and video content that isn’t scripted or fake. I tell stories that make people feel something, and that emotion sticks with them and motivates them to take action to do more good in the world. Authenticity stands out in a world filled with a lot of noise.

Can you talk to us about the role of luck?
I don’t know if I would call it luck, but I feel like at many points in my life and career, when I was scared to death of failure, things always had a way of working out. A combination of luck and hard work, with a lot of faith and hope, got me through tough times.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.chapterskc.com
• Instagram: @kelleycarpenterkc
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/chapters-kc-llc/