POSITIVITY, PASSION, HANNAH CHAHBAZI
CURRENT POSITION: Operations Director at EBLI (Evidence Based Literacy Instruction)
LOCATION: Grand Blanc, Michigan
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN DEGREE: English Literature
GRADUATION YEAR: 2010
ACTIVITIES AT MICHIGAN: Michigan Pops Orchestra, Harmonettes (all female a cappella), Dance Marathon (including one year as a Team Captain)
MICHIGAN POPS ORCHESTRA INSTRUMENT: Viola
Listen to one of Hannah's favorite Pops pieces while you read about her Pops Life!
A CONVERSATION WITH HANNAH
KELLY COMPTON, our Pops Life correspondent, spends time with Hannah learning how an innocent car ride led to a life-changing experience with the Pops and put her on the path to discovering her real true self.
KC: Hannah, tell us a bit about your musical background before coming to Michigan!
HC: I grew up in a Navy family. We settled down in Michigan when I was eight, so I started playing viola in third grade. I chose viola because it was my cousin’s instrument (he was my orchestra director from elementary through high school). Everyone wanted to play the violin, but my cousin told me I would love the viola because it’s such an underrepresented instrument. He was right - I really did love it! I also played piano at that time, but I was done with piano by the time high school rolled around.
I continued orchestra from elementary school, into middle school, and all the way through high school to graduation. I also did choir in middle school and high school, and I actually did two years of color guard with the marching band in high school as well. I always laugh about how I was in every possible musical group in high school. I don’t know why I always gravitated towards music, because I was the only one in my family to do so… my sisters were athletes! Music was in my blood. I’m grateful, though, because I feel like music is what made high school and college for me. I wouldn’t have met as many people in college if I hadn’t continued with it – it was my a Capella group and orchestra where I met my best friends.
KC: Once you got to Michigan, how did you find out about the Pops Orchestra, and what made you want to join?
HC: During my first week at Michigan, Pops was out in full Pops form on the Diag, doing some sort of welcome activity. I remember seeing “orchestra” and knowing that I wanted to join something to make the campus feel smaller for me. I remember meeting Zack Rosenthal and Eliezah Dale that day, and thinking, “These people are really great, and they seem normal, down-to-Earth, and welcoming.” They convinced me to sign up for an audition!
KC: So you met some of your closest friends through Pops during your first week on campus?
HC: Yes! It’s kind of a funny story how we became close friends…I accidentally invited myself to a dinner party. Nate Friedman picked me up from Markley one day for our carpool to rehearsal. Kris McDonough was in the carpool as well, and they were all talking about a party in front of me. I wasn’t invited to it, but I just assumed it was a big orchestra thing. I asked them an awkward question like, “What’s going on?” and they were like, “oh sure Hannah, you can come to this dinner…” So long story short, I got a pity invite to this dinner from my freshman yr Pops carpool, and that’s how I ended up getting to know Kris and his brother Kevin and becoming good friends with them.
KC: Do you live close enough to any of your Pops friends to see anyone regularly?
HC: I live about an hour north of Ann Arbor, but my Pops friends are spread out ALL over. Of my closest friends whom I lived with, Maria is in England, Eliezah I believe is still in NYC, Kevin and Leslie are on the East Coast, and Kris and his wife are on the west side of MI. But we all get together for weddings. My wedding is next year and I’m hoping they can all make it to that!
KC: Tell me about your experience with Pops, and share some favorite memories!
HC: I lived in the Pops House, which is unfortunately no longer there. I think my year (2010) was the last year – then it was bulldozed over to make room for the graduate housing that’s now behind the union. Lots of good memories though… the Pops people are all next-level good weirdos. I love them all so much!
One year we did a show called “Victors and Villains” and played “Star Wars,” which I mentioned was my favorite piece that I ever played in Pops. It was so memorable because the director and the assistant director had a full-on “super battle” in the Michigan Theater, up high so everyone could see it during the concert. They used the lightsabers that actually made noise when you hit them – it was awesome!
As for other favorite memories…Zack Rosenthal was the head of the viola section for three of the years that I was there, and we had a really tight-knit section because it wasn’t very big. One year we played “Jurassic Park.” During the really pretty quiet theme in “Jurassic Park,” we (of course, as violas) didn’t have anything to play (which happens 80% of the time), so we sang a little song about being viola-saurs.
Being the viola-saurs became this huge inside joke, and now that I’m saying it out loud 10 years later, I realize how ridiculously nerdy that is. But that’s a really fond memory because I will always remember my viola-saurs – it was such a fun little group. We probably drove the music director nuts because we would always talk and laugh when we didn’t have anything to play. We were always chatting while everyone else was working so there was a lot of down time and getting yelled at.
KC: What are you doing right now career-wise, and how did you get into this field?
HC: My degree is in English Literature. I chose that major in college because I always loved to read and had always been a huge grammar nerd. I’m now the Operations Director at EBLI, which is actually my family’s company. My mom started it because when my little sister was in second grade, she was a struggling reader. The schools ended up not being able to teach her how to read, so my mom did some research and found a way to teach her. In 2003, my mom created her own system to teach reading, and at this point we have trained tens of thousands of teachers in this method.
CLICK ABOVE TO CONNECT WITH EBLI'S WEBSITE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THEIR STORY & WORK!
I’ve been in a management role working as the Operations Director since 2011. It’s a really small company, so in my job I oversee a lot; I train teachers and have helped to created several apps (I do project management on that and I’m also the voice of the app, which is pretty funny – my claim to fame!). I also do a lot of student instruction where I work with kids one-on-one or coach teachers in their schools, and I do curriculum development. Recently I just finished building an online training and an online Masters course for people who are getting their Masters in Education and want to teach reading. We do a lot of different things at EBLI, but the bottom line is that it’s all literacy instruction.
That was my first job out of college and I’ve been there ever since. It’s very grassroots – we’re based in Michigan, and we’ve mostly trained teachers in Michigan, although now with the online training we’ve reached California, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Alaska, Florida, Texas… people hear about us through word of mouth because we don’t do much advertising. That’s how it’s caught on, and it’s ended up being a great business strategy for us so far. A book was just written that featured our system, so that’s brought a lot of attention to it as well.
Hear Hannah's voice on the apps, Star Trek style!
KC: How do you feel that your career, relationships, and general mindset have been shaped by your experience with Pops?
HC: When I think about how much of my job requires interacting with people, I realize I gained that from Pops and my a capella group. Forming close relationships is a critical workplace skill that I gained more in Pops and other activities than I did in my classes. I became a much stronger writer and communicator in my classes and that has served me very well too, but the interpersonal skills cannot be taught – you have to experience them. The closest thing you get in class is group projects, but that’s not real life. In the real world, situations are not given to you so prescribed like they are in class.
KC: What are your favorite and the most challenging parts of your job?
HC: My favorite parts of my job are when I get to work with students and read with them one-on-one. Whether it’s a whole class or a small group of kids or just one student, I teach while the teachers watch. That’s my favorite part – teaching kids and training teachers. Working with kids is the best; time flies, and kids are super honest. They say whatever they’re thinking, they’re hilarious, and that doesn’t feel like work to me.
For my biggest challenges…as we have entered more into the tech realm, building apps and building the online trainings has presented a lot of challenges, since that’s not what my background is in. So every time I wanted to learn a new skill, I had to spend a LOT of time googling it, doing YouTube tutorials, and trying to figure out developer things from the Apple website. Everything was foreign to me, and I had to learn from scratch. We had a tech guy… and then we no longer had a tech guy… so I sort of became the tech guy. That’s been a challenge, but I have learned so much from it.
KC: What advice would you give to students interested in a similar career path?
HC: Keep in mind that every single day you’re learning. I went into my career thinking I already knew a lot, and 7 years later I realize I still only know the tip of the iceberg. Just keep an open mind and be open to learning all the time. Also, admit when you’re wrong and when you don’t know how to do something.
KC: What does the Pops mean to you personally?
HC: Pops will always be very near and dear to my heart because it’s where I met some of my best friends in the whole world. College is where I really grew into myself and became how I view the full, real me. The people who were there during that time - my friends in Pops - were such an integral part of that. I was actually just talking to my future sisters-in-law about how college was my favorite time of my life because it was so formative. I became so much more of a real person and learned how to have my own opinions and speak up and make true friends. I can’t imagine any of that without Pops.
There’s a warmth to the entire Pops group, and I think this alumni network and website and interview project shows that the magic keeps going even after you graduate. I love everything about it!
HANNAH'S FAVORITES
- MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER: Elizabeth Gilbert
- DAILY HABIT: Hugs for my fiancé, Norm, and treats for Bo Bo (Italian greyhound) and Domino (cat) when I get home
- GLASS OF WINE: Grand Traverse Riesling
- RESTAURANT IN A2 AND GRAND BLANC: Ann Arbor – Logan. Grand Blanc – Aubree’s (because it’s where I met Norm J)
- PERSON YOU'D LIKE TO HAVE DINNER WITH: Oprah
- HOLIDAY: Christmas!!! Up until a few years ago (well into our 20s), my sisters and I would climb into bed with our mom on Christmas Eve to hear her read classic Christmas books. I loved that!
- POPS PIECE: Anything Star Wars
2/1/18