Chalet A. Jean-Baptiste was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, where she first developed her love for issues surrounding Black people and her passion for writing. At 19 years old, she wrote, directed, and co-produced the Off-Broadway play, The Sound of Love's Fire, which ran for a month and received awards and media recognition. After graduating from Arcadia University in Pennsylvania, she began her career as a magazine and financial writer for TIAA-CREF in New York City. She later worked in the media relations and marketing department. While working at TIAA, she began teaching at Medgar Evers College as an adjunct instructor. This spurred a newfound passion for teaching and she has been teaching ever since. She currently works at Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA), Manassas campus as an Associate Professor of English, where she teaches English, literature, African-American Literature, Poetry, Short Story, Mythology, and a Communications class. She is also the co-director of a mentoring program, WISE, focused on providing academic and leadership opportunities for young women.
Chalet earned a M.A. in English from Long Island University and a M.A. in Communications from New York Institute of Technology. She is currently working on her doctorate in Writing and Rhetoric at George Mason University. She had served a judge for the Prince William County Arts Council and served on the board of CAPAC (Creative and Performing Arts Center, Inc.) in Woodbridge, Virginia. She has traveled all over the world presenting on her areas of interests and research, including African-American rhetoric, Black images in the public sphere, Black activism, and pop art's role in the lives of Black people. In her spare time, she loves to write, travel, attend cultural events, and spend time with her family. She has three beautiful children and lives in Northern Virginia.