Lisa Carter

I started as a social worker for New York City Department of Social Services, where I advocated and learned how to maintain marginalized families in the community. I think everyone should get an understanding and work in social services because it reveals the ills of our community and society. That's what opened the door to my being an artist. My problem-solving skills from social work lent itself to my digital media advocacy work, and I've been in digital media since the 80s. I've been able to interject my digital media ability and talent into each role throughout my 40-year career. Now I'm 63 and working on my entrepreneurial projects. I have a project called the Freedom Vessel, which gives young children an opportunity to fail and learn through interactive historical information, especially during this political climate where a lot of Black history books and curriculums have been removed from schools. I have travel exhibits that will be placed on a boat for a 3-hour sail where children can interact with different Black history activities and characters like Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass. I'm also working on a book called Be Nice and the K9 Crew, where my son is a canine police officer, so I'm going to have dogs with different characters that teach children how to be kind and be a friend, and these characters will interact with children in the classroom and on the playground.