Majora Carter: Social Entrepreneur

She takes the tech economy to low-tech communities.

- Sergie Willoughby

Urban revitalization strategist and social “techpreneur” Majora Carter is a living embodiment of President Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign exhortation, “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” Instead of waiting for others to improve the condition of her South Bronx neighborhood, she began the transformation herself.

Carter returned to her native Hunts Point section of the Bronx, New York, after pursuing and then deciding against a career in film, and after studying English in the hope that she would “go on to write the great American novel.” Soon, the Wesleyan University graduate found herself involved in environmental issues occurring in Hunts Point at the time. “In particular, the city wanted to build a huge waste facility on our waterfront, so I got involved in sustainable solid waste management on the advocacy side for the community and communities like it around the city. It’s exactly what led me to where I am right now,” she notes.