On March 15 we celebrated Honors Day at Marymount Manhattan College. The annual Barry Commoner Lecture on the Environment featured Majora Carter as the keynote speaker on ‘Home(town) Security.’ Majora Carter is an award winning broadcaster, has a radio talk show, is an urban revitalization strategy consultant and real estate developer. She has won a Peabody award for being a successful broadcaster, did a popular TEDTalk in 2006 and is a board member of the US Green Building Council and the Andrew Goodman Foundation. She founded the non-profit environmental justice solutions corporation Sustainable South Bronx. Majora has also been featured in promotional videos and advertisements for: Honda, Holiday Inn, Frito-Lay, Cisco Systems, Visa, Mazda and many more.
Everyone eagerly awaited her big event, especially because, as it pointed out in her biography provided by MMC, she has accomplished so many admirable things. The theater was packed with an audience during her moving, powerful and inspirational talk. Students and faculty discovered that Majora is also “responsible for the creation and successful implementation of numerous green infrastructure projects, policies, and job training and placement systems.”
Majora created the Sustainable South Bronx and Green For All organization, along with many more positive organizations that work on creating economic developments designed to help people out of poverty. She is big on innovative ventures that deal with urban economic developments. This is a major issue right now, especially here in New York City.
People had the opportunity to speak with her at the reception that followed the talk in the Regina Peruggi room. This was a great way to talk to her more in depth about her philanthropic pursuits, business insights and details of her projects in the South Bronx community. I spoke with her a lot about broadcast career advice and working your way up in the field, specifically for a post-graduate, entry-level employee. Majora pointed out that it is true that there is still a glass ceiling for women, and as females we have to work even harder. In our country right now, wage inequality is a big issue. This is especially present in the media industry, so it is important for women to be mindful of that. It is not okay to get paid less than a male co-worker when the jobs are identical. The best advice she has is to just keep working your way through it – while never getting discouraged. Majora also stressed the importance of not minimalizing your past experience and resume. Don’t think ‘I’m not qualified enough for that so I can’t apply.’ If an opportunity comes along that you want, go for it, even if you are a bit underqualified at the moment. You may end up getting the job after all!
The saying is true, fake it till you make it!