FARGO -- At age 4, Chaunte' Lowe was so inspired by the Olympic athletes she saw on TV that she made a vow to someday compete in those elite games herself.
Most young children might have flirted with that flight of whimsy, only to decide a few hours later that they'd rather be a doctor or a ballet dancer instead.
But little Chaunte' meant it.
Despite growing up in a less-than-stable home environment, Chaunte' channeled super-human levels of determination, discipline and resilience into her quest for an Olympic medal. In 2004, the 20-year-old represented the United States in the high jump at the Athens Olympics. She would go on to become an American record holder, three-time World Champion medalist and 2008 Olympic bronze medalist.
Nowadays, the Orlando-based businesswoman and married mother of three has parlayed her experiences into a motivational-speaking career. More recently, she's raised the bar on her successful speaking engagements even further by sharing lessons learned after being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2019.
She'll be the keynote speaker at the FMWF Chamber's Women Connect event Tuesday, Sept. 24, from 3:30 to 5 p.m. at the Sanford Health Athletic Complex, 1300 17th Ave. N., Fargo.
"Growing up in a household where, statistically, I should not be where I am, I found my way there by watching and learning from others," Lowe told The Forum.
Lowe said she'll share "lessons that I learned through that journey and by applying it and figuring out what it took to make me successful, and finding out how people can apply that to their own personal goals -- whether it's professional, financial or their families. And so that's what I get to do every day. I love it."
Lowe's biographical materials describe her as "animated, entertaining and humorous," with a tendency to dance, jump and "play to the crowd." She will speak on everything from our ability to develop resilience -- even for those who believe they don't possess it -- to self-care.
She acknowledged that self-care can be difficult for women. "As a mother, as a professional, that seems so counter-intuitive because we're so giving. We want to save everybody else first. And in the midst of doing that, we end up neglecting ourselves.
"And so it's finding ways to put the oxygen mask on ourselves so that we can show up for other people. When we're thriving, everyone thrives."
The California native's life didn't start out on an easy path. In a video posted by "The Icons" podcast, Lowe talked of growing up in a household affected by homelessness, poverty, domestic violence, drug abuse and alcoholism.
"But I had that vision of going to the Olympics and I had that skill of jumping and I put those two together and it was really the thing that pulled me through those difficult times," she said in the video.
Lowe attributes that ability to push through despite hardship to "a village" of support from grandparents, relatives and church members. "Grandmothers definitely played a huge role in my upbringing and my support," she said. "I definitely needed my community."
This support, coupled with a resilience which Lowe developed over time, helped her avoid the pitfalls which affected some of her peers.
"A lot of times, we think we have to gain wisdom only through our own experiences," she said. "But I started learning that I could gain wisdom by observing the people around me that had in life what I wanted and that I didn't necessarily have. I started adopting the mindset that if I do what they do, then that's the recipe for success."
Lowe said every person has some hardship during their lifetime, but the difference between surviving and thriving is resilience. The key is pushing one's self to move forward despite uncomfortable feelings and situations.
"I was telling my husband (the other day) my secret in high jump is ... I trained for over 20 years and every single year during the time period of the year, I wanted to quit. And, no matter what, I never did," she said.
At the 2008 and 2012 Olympics, Lowe placed sixth and in 2016, she placed fourth.
In the end, she did get a bronze medal -- although she didn't receive it amid the pomp and circumstance of the Olympic Games. When doping samples from the 2008 Beijing Olympics were re-tested, Russian and Ukrainian jumpers were disqualified. In November 2017, she was officially awarded the bronze.
In 2019, with her sights set on her next Olympic performance, the 34-year-old Lowe discovered a lump, smaller than a grain of rice, in her breast.
A mammogram detected triple-negative breast cancer -- an aggressive, rapid-growing form of cancer that disproportionately affects women of Western Africa descent.
Lowe, who initially vowed to still compete in the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, received international attention for her diagnosis, appearing on NBC's "Today Show," CNN and numerous newspapers.
After a double mastectomy, chemotherapy and a nearly fatal case of COVID, Lowe received a clean bill of health. All the while, she also worked as a global ambassador for the American Cancer Society. It was an important reminder that one could be young, fit and outwardly healthy -- and still not escape the most common cancer for women in the United States.
As a world-class athlete, Lowe paid attention to her body. Yet she realizes that isn't always the case. "And so I think this cancer journey has taught me when my alarms and alerts go off to stop and make sure that I tend to them."
"The final thing I learned is there's so much hope," she said. "There have been so many amazing strides that have been made in research, and the prognosis is not the same as it was even 10 or five years ago. There's still a lot of work to be done, but it is not an automatic death sentence."
What does she hope people will take away from her Women Connect event? "I want people to feel like, 'Man, I got this. I am built to tackle what's in front of me. And today is the day. I'm going to stop surviving and I'm going to start thriving.'"
Tickets start at $65 in advance. Learn more at https://www.fmwfchamber.com/events/details/women-connect-celebration-chaunt%C3%A9-lowe-9550