We had the good fortune of connecting with Chelsea Burnett and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Chelsea, how did you come up with the idea for your business?
My spouse Adam Lucio with Illinois Storm Chasers used to give severe weather presentations to kids and adults in Illinois a few years ago. This gave me the idea of starting up severe weather presentations here in Texas, as this was not an offering I had heard of back in 2018. I also did not experience such a program as a child growing up in Oklahoma, so that motivated me to launch a severe weather awareness program through Texas Storm Chasers and I have been at it for the last 6 years! This has since led to my partnership with Storm Science to provide similar content, and full time!

What should our readers know about your business?
I grew up in the heart of Tornado Alley – central Oklahoma. My love for weather began at the age of two, when my mom noticed I loved the sound of thunder! I continued my obsession with weather after seeing the movie Twister at the age of ten. I collected severe weather newspaper articles, weather calendars, and kept a weather diary of daily entries from listening to my NOAA weather radio alarm clock. The Weather Channel was my preferred TV program. I read my uncle Jeff’s old weather books (he was also a weather nerd as a kid!) and checked out what I could from local school and city libraries.

I was a very shy child and had a stutter, so speaking in front of groups of people scared me so much. I hid from being called out in school to read paragraphs from the textbooks. I dreaded giving speeches, answering phones, and introducing myself to new people.

I knew I wanted to be a meteorologist when I grew up, and was told going to college to get a degree in meteorology would get me there. So that was my only plan growing up, to graduate high school and attend college to obtain that degree.

That’s not quite what happened though. I attended the University of Oklahoma for a few semesters in 2005-2006, only to leave the program due to failing the math courses repeatedly. I moved to Texas in 2007 and decided to take the socially acceptable life route – get a full time job and get a degree in something more practical. I worked my way up the corporate world ladder and finished my college journey with a degree in Business from the University of North Texas. I also got married, had a baby, bought our first home, divorced, sold said home and decided after all those life changes to then give myself a second chance at embracing my love for weather at the end of 2015.

In that time I had met David Reimer, the owner of Texas Storm Chasers in 2010 and had been on a few storm chases for a few months in between the aforementioned life occurrences. This friendship then led to the partnership in 2016 to start chasing and providing weather content. The idea of presentations was born in 2017 and I was regularly scheduling them as a side gig by 2018.

It wasn’t until late 2023 I realized I would be able to make storm chasing & public speaking a full time career after accepting an offer from Nick Bartholomew with Storm Science. As of this publication we have scheduled several presentations across DFW and I continue to provide content with Texas Storm Chasers.

This road was uniquely hard but uniquely mine. It was the least conventional way to becoming an entrepreneur. The challenges of balancing life/work while pursuing my passion continues, but the support of friends and family has been of upmost importance to continue.

I’ve learned valuable lessons pertaining to my self worth, self image, and mindset. We can truly do anything we set our minds to. Never did the child version of myself think I’d be public speaking regularly at the age of 38, and about something she’s so passionate about! Embracing my love for weather has truly allowed me to overcome my speech impediment and allow me to be my most authentic self. We only have one life to live and we owe it to ourselves to live it to the absolute fullest, it’s never too late.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
If a friend from another state were to come visit me here in Tornado Alley, I’d totally take us out for a day of storm chasing. Show them how we pick a target, walk them through the preparation of such a chase journey. As we made our way to the target area to wait on storms, I’d show them the delicacies of storm chasing – enjoying an Allsups beef and bean burrito and indulging in a delicious Whataburger meal. We would find some great scenic spots to enjoy the storm views from and capture those moments with our cameras. After the chase day concluded we would find a local steakhouse and meet up with other storm chasers for a classic Twister dinner of steak!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Nick Bartholomew with Storm Science

Website: https://www.stormscience.org

Facebook: Storm Chaser Chelsea Burnett

Youtube: Texas Storm Chasers

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutDFW is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.