A founder, a leadership team, and a growing community of Woman School Ambassadors carrying this work into parishes, campuses, and organizations across the country.
The Woman School began with a vision and a voice. It moves forward through a team trained in formation, accompaniment, and the rhythm of parish and organizational life. Behind every class, every retreat, every conversation: people committed to seeing the woman in front of them.
January Donovan is the founder of The Woman School and the lead teacher of the New Woman Masterclass, a Catholic formation curriculum that has reached women in over forty countries. Her work integrates Catholic anthropology, feminine psychology, and the lived practice of vocation, equipping women to live their faith in the everyday seasons of marriage, motherhood, work, and discipleship.
A bestselling author and frequent voice in Catholic media, January has been featured in Forbes and interviewed by Chris Stefanick, and she speaks regularly to parishes, dioceses, and women's conferences across the country. She and her husband Ryan are raising eight children, the lived classroom for everything The Woman School teaches.
The team translating January's vision into the daily work of strategy, partnerships, and program delivery for parishes, campuses, and organizations.
Samantha serves as Director of Partnerships for Catholic Feminine Formation, focused on building meaningful relationships with Catholic organizations, apostolates, parishes, schools, and mission-driven leaders committed to providing much-needed human formation through a Catholic lens, in order to evangelize the culture and form the next generation.
Her passion for this work is deeply personal. As a student of The Woman School since 2020, Samantha experienced firsthand how proper formation allowed the Gospel to transform every part of her life as a wife, mother of five, attorney, and Catholic woman. Her life is a witness to how formation lets the Gospel take root in the everyday and shape the way we live, lead, serve, and love others.
An active parishioner in the Diocese of Wichita, she has witnessed the beauty of a stewardship way of life rooted in gratitude for God's gifts. Beginning with partnership-building in her own diocese, she discovered a deep passion for connecting mission-driven organizations and leaders who desire to evangelize the culture and form the next generation of women with truth, purpose, and authentic femininity.
Chantal Howard serves as the Ambassador Director at The Woman School, where she helps lead and support the growing movement of Catholic Feminine Formation across parishes, communities, and institutions. She is passionate about equipping women with the practical formation, mentorship, and coaching needed to live lives rooted in truth, beauty, goodness, and authentic human flourishing.
Chantal believes the renewal of our culture begins with the renewal of the human person, especially within the domestic church. Through her work, she helps form leaders, mentors, and ambassadors who are committed to restoring femininity through faith-filled human formation and helping others live with greater wholeness, purpose, and virtue.
Prior to her work at The Woman School, Chantal spent more than fifteen years serving thousands through ministry, health coaching, leadership development, and entrepreneurship. Alongside January Donovan, she co-created the Wholeness Coaching and Situational Strategy method, helping integrate practical human formation with transformational coaching and mentorship. Today, she plays a key role in training and supporting Woman School Ambassadors as they guide others toward deeper healing, growth, and formation.
Chantal lives in Sandpoint, Idaho with her husband, Dr. Peter Howard, founder of The Fulton Sheen Institute, and their six children. She is devoted to living a simple, faith-centered life rooted in family, formation, and service to the Church.
Ryan Donovan is the Chief Executive Officer and strategic architect behind Catholic Feminine Formation, leading the organization's strategy, operational development, and institutional infrastructure. He oversees the systems, team, and architecture that translate this work into scalable formation programs reaching women in parishes, universities, schools, and organizations around the world.
Inspired by his wife January's mission to restore authentic femininity through formation, Ryan helped transform that vision into a global movement now reaching families in more than fifty countries. With a background in entrepreneurship, leadership development, business strategy, and organizational growth, he has played a central role in building multiple educational initiatives rooted in human formation, family renewal, and faith-centered living.
Having witnessed firsthand the impact of an authentically formed woman through his wife, Ryan often speaks about the transformative effect feminine formation has had on his own life, marriage, fatherhood, and faith. He believes the wholeness cultivated within a woman shapes the health of the family and elevates everyone around her, and that the formation January has pursued has challenged him to become a better husband, father, and man.
Alongside January, Ryan is helping pioneer a renewed model of formation that honors the dignity of both men and women, grounded in the conviction that lasting cultural renewal comes not through politics or commentary but through deeply formed people building strong homes and faithful communities. Ryan and January live in Ave Maria with their eight children, where family life remains at the heart of everything they build.
Our assigned Woman School Ambassadors (Certified Coaches & Mentors) are trained to walk with women, families, and communities through every season of feminine formation.
Whether you lead a parish, a campus ministry, or an organization, our team is ready to walk with you in bringing The Woman School to the women you serve.