Majora Carter

Majora Carter is an urban revitalization strategist, real estate developer, and Peabody Award-winning broadcaster whose work has influenced how communities, policymakers, and businesses approach economic development in low-income urban neighborhoods. Carter founded and led the nonprofit environmental justice organization Sustainable South Bronx before entering the private sector. She later established the Majora Carter Group, a consulting firm focused on developing strategies and projects that transform low-status communities into mixed-use local economies. Her work emphasizes reducing brain drain in areas like the South Bronx by supporting restorative economic development for clients including real estate development companies, municipalities, universities, economic development agencies, and foundations.

After returning to her native South Bronx, Carter worked for the Point Community Development Corporation and led a campaign to prevent a significant portion of New York's municipal waste from being deposited at a planned facility in the area. As associate director, she spearheaded the development of Hunts Point Riverside Park, securing more than $1.25 million from a federal transportation grant. The park received the Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence and became a key link in the Bronx River Greenway. Carter also co-founded Green For All with Van Jones and introduced MIT's first Mobile Fab Lab to the South Bronx, an early example of the maker spaces now found in many communities.

Carter's TED Talk was among the first six videos to launch TED.com. She is a MacArthur Fellow, Peabody Award-winning broadcaster, and holds seven honorary doctorates. Her words are featured at the Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.: "Nobody should have to move out of their neighborhood to live in a better one." Carter has received recognition such as the 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs by Goldman Sachs, the Silicon Alley 100 by Business Insider, and the Liberty Medal for Lifetime Achievement by News Corp, as well as honors from the National Building Museum, the International Interior Design Association, and the Center for American Progress.

Carter co-created the public radio show "The Promised Land," which aired on more than 150 public radio stations across the United States and received a Peabody Award. Her expertise in urban sustainability and economic justice has led to appearances on Discovery Communications' Science Channel, HBO's "The Black List," and in advertisements for Honda, Intel, and Visa. Her book "Reclaiming Your Community: You Don't Have to Move Out of Your Neighborhood to Live in a Better One" explores poverty, economic development, and the meaning of success. Carter is also the owner of Boogie Down Grind coffee shop, a café in the Bronx that celebrates hip hop culture and community.

Carter's practice centers on talent retention to reduce brain drain in American low-status communities, developing strategies to transform these neighborhoods into mixed-use local economies that expand wealth-building opportunities for historically marginalized groups. She serves as a lecturer at Princeton University and has served on the boards of the U.S. Green Building Council, Ceres, The Wilderness Society, and the Andrew Goodman Foundation, contributing to the fields of urban sustainability and economic justice.