Her Story
About Carrie
My career in mental health and behavioral health spans over 25 years, taking me through child advocacy centers, developmental disability services, hospital systems, and school systems. I've worked with government entities to provide programming and collaborated with schools to implement and develop those programs. A pivotal moment came in 2019 when I was serving as both CEO and COO of an anti-trafficking organization - filling an interim CEO role that stretched to 13 months. During that time, my family experienced a house fire and lost everything, which forced me to halt and really evaluate what remained. Here I was working in an organization that did trauma care, but they didn't know what that looked like from a leader, what happened when the leader was in crisis. Then COVID hit, and people really started to realize the impact of trauma. I had this aha moment and started my own coaching and consulting business five years ago. Now I work with some of my same clients I used to work inside of, but really with the ones that are trying to lift the change among the chaos, doing systems work from a trauma-informed perspective. What that means is working from a human design perspective - recognizing that we're all human, we've all experienced something, and depending on the frequency, intensity, and age or stage it happened, it still works with us. It shows up in procrastination, being snappy with colleagues, being perfect at work and snapping at family. When we recognize that and lead from that understanding, it's more impactful to changing cultures. I focus specifically on women like me - successful professionals who are doing the work every day but may be crying in the shower or screaming in the car on the way home. We don't have the tools to talk about it in a way that doesn't feel too vulnerable, and those are the conversations I love having.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Carrie
01What do you attribute your success to?
In my faith, I would say that God gave me resilience. It hasn't come easy, I didn't ask for it, I wouldn't want it for anybody else, but somehow I have it. My grandmother was really important in my life. I had a really hard life with my biological family - we're a small family, and at this age and stage of life, I've been more estranged with them than we've been together. My mother grew up in an extremely abusive family and was removed from her home. She lived with so much extreme trauma, and while she never physically abused or harmed me, she broke that cycle. But she didn't know how to let go of some of the other harms, and unfortunately we couldn't be in the same relationship because my kids needed to be protected. She passed away a year ago in March, and I had been doing work for 10 years to be prepared as much as you can be. But it motivates me to be the change. I pray and talk to her all the time, saying I'm doing it, Mom, I'm breaking the cycle. I'm going to help other women feel better. I had a handful of women that carried me through, and now today I get to help other women. I would have never guessed this when I was my daughter's age. I can't change yesterday, I can't change what I wish I could have had - I had to go through grieving what I wish I could have had, and I still grieve it at times today. But those are the only things I can do - I get to try to do it different with my own two children and mentor other young women.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
My usual tagline to people is to always be curious. Everything that comes to us is information, and if we receive it as information and we remain curious, we can respond. That's how I try to move forward, in hard times and in everything else. We have to look at a really challenging time, feeling, or situation with a deep breath before we can react, so we don't react, we respond. Be curious - why is this coming to me? Why is this person responding? Is this even about me? When we remain curious and start asking those questions, we find that our nervous system all of a sudden calms down, and we feel like maybe this has nothing to do with me, and I can choose how I want to show up. I really try to always remain curious, seeking to understand how it all works together.
Keep Exploring
More Influential Women · North Carolina
Join Influential Women and start making an impact. Register now.