“Nobody should have to move out of their neighbourhood to live in a better one,” says Majora Carter, whose words are quoted on the walls of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC. Carter has led her own real estate development and urban revitalization consulting company since 2008, which focused on talent-retention strategies in community and corporate settings.

Along the way, she produced and hosted the Peabody Award-winning public radio series “The Promised Land,” which highlighted leaders of colour in environmental and economic projects across the US.   

Her 2006 TED Talk, “Greening the ghetto,” was one of the first six TED Talks published online. She is a MacArthur Fellow and recipient of 7 honorary PhDs, along with accolades from organisations as varied as the Center for American Progress, Goldman Sachs, News Corp, NRDC, The Eleanor Roosevelt Society, and many others.

She lives in the South Bronx community where she was born and raised and is also the proud owner of The Boogie Down Grind, an establishment celebrating Hip Hop culture and community roots.