25 Women for 2024: Chelsea Johnson Muir tries to 'make life better for everyone'

When the clock is ticking and you have to make a decision, Chelsea Johnson Muir will be on the sidelines cheering for you. As an educator, coach, mentor, and leader, it is her passion to serve others and help them achieve their biggest dreams and goals.

Muir will tell you that there are no words to describe how it feels to be named as one of Tallahassee’s 25 Women You Need to Know this year, but in reality, she is a woman of many words, all of them uplifting and inspiring to those around her. “My grandfather told me I wasn’t saved to sit, I was saved to serve. So I try to make life better for everyone who comes across my path.”

She is really good at it. As the head coach of the girls’ basketball team at Godby High School, she celebrates a 100% graduation rate of players, each of whom she holds to a high academic standard. When the need arose, she stepped up again to coach the school’s boys’ bowling team in their inaugural season. Her initiative for mentoring young men through the Cougar Kings program inspires them to reach for their best potential.

As a result of her influence, Chelsea was named the Godby High School Distinguished Educator of the Year in 2021 and went on to be selected as the Leon County District Winner. “I truly believe in servant leadership,” she says. “I’m inspired by helping others succeed and giving second chances for young people to soar, because God gave me a second chance at life.”

That second chance came after experiencing a brain aneurysm while playing basketball in college. “I promised God that if He healed me while I was enduring the complications, that I would be His mouthpiece and truly serve what He places in my hands.” Her plans to become a cosmetic dentist shifted, and Muir began mentoring and coaching.

Her path led to the classroom, where she feels she is working in her purpose. “God is my coach, and that was a game changer for me.”

She is the creator of Godby Girls Night Out Empowerment Initiative, which promotes positivity, self-esteem, and empowerment among young women. Her impact reaches academic circles, as she serves as a Guest Lecturer for Georgia Southern University's Master of Coaching Program, sharing her expertise and inspiring future leaders in the field.

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She has kept that promise as founder and CEO of The Servant Leader 4:10, LLC, a professional coaching initiative dedicated to empowering coaches and leaders to effectively guide their teams, and the Servant Leader Coaches Bible Study Podcast, where she shares insights and strategies for servant leadership.

Seeking another way to have her encouraging voice heard, Muir wrote and produced her own single, "You Can Make It," with proceeds going to students in need in the community, and co-authored The HBCU Experience: Queens Edition. This year, she was recognized as Destiny Church's Unsung Hero for her commitment to community outreach, including organizing awareness events for breast cancer and hosting events like the Gospel Brunch to address community violence.

Her inspiration comes from her mother, saying, “She raised me and my three siblings with humility, kindness and virtue. These are the values that she has always instilled in us that we hold today! She never let me settle and she always showed me perseverance at the highest level.”

Always the coach, Muir praises those around her. “I am honored to be a part of these other amazing women,” she says. “As the famous poem was written ‘life for me ain’t been no crystal stair,’ so these positions are even more humbling because I truly know that faith and God’s hand allowed me to be where I am.”

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: 25 Women for 2024: Godby coach Chelsea Johnson Muir inspires