Founding Member of BuzzFeed's "Cocoa Butter" Chantal Rochelle Talks Pushing The Culture Forward: Exclusive BUST Interview

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing the amazing Chantal Rochelle: on-air host, producer, and all-around digital content creator. In her current role as the Brand & Content Lead of BuzzFeed's Black culture and entertainment vertical Cocoa Butter, Rochelle ultimately aims to"push the culture forward" by producing content that reflects the true diversity of African diasporic people.

I'm from Texas. I grew up [where] everything in my orbit was music, entertainment, film. My father was a huge movie buff. My mom loves music, so there were always records in the house. In a Black household, also having JET Magazine and EBONY Magazine on the coffee table was what I was surrounded by. How instrumental were you in the creation of Cocoa Butter, and why do you think affirming, Afro-centric platforms like yours are so important?

Now, we have an amazing team. My role right now is to really activate ways for us to think outside of the box. I'm really appreciative of the journey that I've had, and it's not been easy by any means. But I will say what's helped me persevere: the people who ultimately find their success are the ones who don't give up.

I crafted all my questions, with the help of our amazing writers to really try to get questions that people are asking. The facade of the celebrity, I want to get past that. So I look at the ways that I can tap into the humanity of it. I'll read everything I can to make sure I'm properly prepared and I'm getting something out of them that hasn't really been tapped into.

It's 2021 and we’re still enduring a global health crisis. How has your creativity shifted over the course of the pandemic, and how are you taking care of yourself while also managing the pressures of being a producer, speaker and overall content creator? I think we put too much into our jobs. So many people have lost their lives this year and I'm appreciative to be employed. But, that's not my identity. I'm so much more and I think that so many times we tie our identities into our jobs and outside sources for validation. But this is the first time I validated myself without needing anyone else's approval.

I grew up having a mother who was super into beauty. I would watch her spray her perfume in the morning when she was getting ready for work and just how she presented herself. I never saw my mother speak negatively about her body. And that's something that I'm taking with me into motherhood as well. The way that I never saw her in the mirror judging herself was instrumental.

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