Meet Chantal Wilford

I am a public education advocate, mother of four, a substitute teacher, a member of the League of Women Voters’ Education Issues Action Team, a volunteer with Little Free Libraries of Lakewood Ranch, and the founder of the Education Matters in Manatee County Facebook page and Substack.

My Education

After graduating from public high school in the US, I spent seven years living in Europe either as a college student or teacher. I studied pedagogy for two years in the Netherlands, then earned a Bachelor’s of Arts Honours degree in French, Russian, and Linguistics from the University of Durham in England. I subsequently earned a certificate to Teach English as a Foreign Language to Adults (TEFLA) in France where I taught for two years at businesses and a university in and around Paris before I returned to the US for a year of post-graduate training as a translator and interpreter at the Monterey Institute of International Studies in California.

My Work

After grad school, I was a freelance translator of Dutch & French into English from 1997 to about 2020. In 2005, I became certified as a childbirth educator and birth doula and have provided birth preparation classes and labor support services to many families in Manatee and Sarasota counties. I loved having the flexibility to balance translation work from home for clients around the world with birth doula services for women and their families right here in my community.

My Family

My husband of 28 years, Andrew, is a former math teacher and has been a software engineer since 1997. Our four children were all homeschooled until about age 10 — we spent 14 consecutive years homeschooling one or more children in Manatee County. All of our children transitioned to traditional public schools for fifth grade, then went on to middle and high schools in District 5. We choiced all of our children into a traditional public high school we are not zoned for. Three have now graduated, two are still in college, and one is a rising sophomore here in District 5.

My Volunteer Work

In addition to providing regular education reporting through Education Matters in Manatee County, my community volunteer work in recent years has included serving on the League of Women Voters’ Education Issues Action Team and other education boards, distributing children’s books through the Lakewood Ranch Little Free Library Club, and fostering for Nate’s Honor Animal Rescue.