With her latest success, Ebony Chappel is witnessing her dreams come true. After enduring a fire and experiencing a mini-stroke while attending Clark Atlanta University, the 48-year-old grandma has now received her degree.
Chappel, who grew up poor, dropped out of high school after getting into problems. She was 16 when she was raped, 17 when she graduated from high school, and 18 when she gave birth to her first child.
She told Fox5, “Originally in Harlem, I went to Martin Luther King High School, and I got into some trouble, and I got kicked out, and I had to go to an alternative school.”
She subsequently had three more children and six grandkids before earning her GED in 2019 after working as a hairstylist and even getting to style Stevie Wonder’s hair. She founded her own apparel manufacturing company and eventually applied to her dream school, Clark Atlanta University.
Since she hadn’t taken the SAT or ACT, she wasn’t initially aware that she could enter the school with her GED, however, the COVID-19 epidemic made it possible.
She enrolled in a fashion design course at Clark Atlanta University. She suffered a stroke as a result of her charitable work creating nose masks for others.
She added, however, that the school has had such a profound influence on her that she eventually wants to go back and teach.
Chappel declared, “My next step is getting my masters in business and then after that I am going to get my masters in fashion and go to Paris.”
