Kelly Chapman

Director, Diversity Recruiting
Microsoft Corp.,
Cleveland

While it may seem clichéd, it is impossible to describe Kelly Chapman as anything other than a bundle of energy.

At Microsoft Corp., Chapman serves as director of diversity recruiting, a position that allows her to lead corporate strategic planning, recruiting and marketing initiatives to attract diverse talent.

This is a continuation of Chapman’s prior work at Eaton Corp., where she was an executive search consultant and practice leader. Prior to that, Chapman was the managing director and owner of Lightworld Enterprises L.L.C., a diversity executive search firm.

In addition to her “day” job, Chapman is a recording artist and performs at venues across the globe promoting her CD titled Real.

She has also authored a corresponding book, Real: The Truth About Being Single With Kelly Chapman, which was published in 2008.

Through it all, Chapman, a single mother, has raised her daughter, Natalie, a freshman at Ohio University.Of course, Chapman insists that she could not have done it alone.

“It takes a village,” she says. “My parents helped me raise my daughter for eighteen years.”

While it seems that Chap-man’s plate should be full, she still manages to give back in every way she can. She credits Reverend Randy Young, who taught her “how to model God’s heart through grace, love and serving others before myself.”

It is no surprise then that she talks to battered women, single mothers and prisoners through Kelly Chapman Ministries Inc. Chapman has also established a fund at the Cleveland Foundation to reward scholarships to individuals with mental-health challenges.

With a bachelor’s degree in communications from Case Western Reserve University and a master’s degree in business from Northwestern University, Chapman recognizes the importance of education.

This, coupled with her own personal experiences with her mother’s mental illness, is what inspired her to establish the fund and also fuels her dream to eventually build a health wing at a Cleveland facility and name it the Wilma A. Chapman Behavioral Health Center.