Christine Michel Carter

Christine Michel Carter (née Epps) is an American author and marketing strategist from Baltimore, Maryland.

Career

Writing

Since 2016, Carter has written for ''TIME, Forbes,'' and other national outlets. A viral ''HuffPost'' article Carter wrote titled “I Celebrated Black History Month… By Finding Out I Was White" led to her being interviewed by ''The New York Times'' and ''BBC''.

Carter primarily writes about generation Alpha, from the perspective of both marketing strategist and parent. She has been cited by or contributed to the books of other authors, including ''You and I, as Mothers: A Raw and Honest Guide to Motherhood'' by Laura Prepon. In the ''Harvard Business Review Working Parent Series'', Carter is the subject matter expert on how new mothers of color can return to work. ''TODAY'' named Carter one of the “funniest parents on social media” four times in 2020 and 2021. In 2023, Carter won a Folio Eddie Award for an open letter she authored for ''Parents'' titled “An Open Letter to Black Birthing People During Black Maternal Health Week.”

Advocacy

Carter is an advocate for caregivers, specifically working mothers. She documented her experience pumping in a bathroom while working for an employer violating the Fair Labor Standards Act. In 2020, Carter was interviewed by Bozoma Saint John on her podcast with Katie Couric titled "Back to Biz with Katie and Boz," where she was nicknamed “the mom of mom influencers.”

Before Vice President Kamala Harris reintroduced the Maternal Care Access and Reducing Emergencies (CARE) Act in May 2019, Carter interviewed Harris for ''Parents''. The interview occurred February 21, 2019, one month after Harris officially announced her candidacy for president of the United States in the 2020 United States presidential election. When Carter asked Harris about the maternal mortality disparity faced by women of color, Harris stated:

"We need to speak the uncomfortable truth that women—and especially Black women—are too often not listened to or taken seriously by the health care system, and therefore they are denied the dignity that they deserve. And we need to speak this truth because today, the United States is 1 of only 13 countries in the world where the rate of maternal mortality is worse than it was 25 years ago. That risk is even higher for Black women, who are three to four times more likely than white women to die from pregnancy-related causes. These numbers are simply outrageous."

In May 2023, Christine Michel Carter endorsed the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act when it was reintroduced to Congress by Representative Lauren Underwood and Senator Cory Booker under the Black Maternal Health Caucus. The legislation consists of 13 individual bills and aims to address the maternal health crisis in the United States. Senator Chris Van Hollen, cosponsor of the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act, recognized Carter in 2021 for going “above and beyond in ensuring that Black Moms and Moms of Color have access to important health information for their children and families.”

Carter participated in the #ShareTheMicNow Instagram initiative alongside authors Luvvie Ajayi and Bozoma Saint John. On June 10, 2020, 52 Black women took over the Instagram feeds of 52 white women with large platforms to draw attention to the work they're doing in order to catalyze change. Carter took over the Instagram account of Rachel Bloom. Carter has also spoke out against Black Women’s Equal Pay Day, stating the path to racial and gender equity in the workplace will involve “radical action.”

Carter is a council member on the Caring Across Generations Business Care Council, a group which changes the way our culture and policies value and support caregiving. She is also a council member on the SeekHer Foundation's Advocacy Council, a non-profit organization that advocates for women's mental health. The SeekHer Foundation partnered with Pure Leaf to give mothers grants totaling $200,000 in 2021 and $400,000 in 2022; Carter is one of the grant application reviewers. Carter is an advisory board member of The Policy Center for Maternal Mental Health, a national policy organization that advanced The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act and the PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act legislation in 2022.

Other work

In 2020, Carter trademarked "Mompreneur and Me," a national professional development event for female business owners and their children. She is an angel investor in Lilu, a breast pumping device, Cradlewise, an AI-powered smart crib and bassinet, and beauty tech company MYAVANA.

In 2023, Carter hosted a podcast for Bright Horizons titled “The Work-Life Equation.” Guests included Minda Harts, Indra Nooyi, and Deborah Cox.

Bibliography

* ''MOM AF (2019)''
* ''Can Mommy Go To Work? (2019)''

Personal life

Carter is divorced. She has two children from her previous marriage: a daughter born in 2011 and a son born in 2015.

In 2020, she and her children starred in a digital marketing campaign for Walmart titled "Camp Walmart."

See also

* Generation Alpha
* Mompreneur
* Activism

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Carter, Christine Michel
1986 births
American women bloggers
Living people
American bloggers
Advocates of women's reproductive rights
21st-century American women writers
Writers from Baltimore
21st-century African-American women writers
21st-century African-American writers
African-American women in business