Meet Dr. T Carter | Founder of BWCC, Community Collaborator, Life Efficiency Trainer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Dr. T Carter and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dr. T, can you talk to us a bit about the social impact of your business?
Black Women Coping (BWCC) in Community started with the intent to impact social change, not just for black women, but in order to change the overall perspective of how we engage marginalized groups. The hope is to alleviate the complete concept of people being marginalized. There is a basic construct that facilitates an idea of hierarchy which sustains the necessity of disadvantage for some and privilege for others. This has proven for decades that unrest is inevitable.

BWCC hopes to offer a perspective that engages a different and unique appreciation for what all people groups have to offer. Through strategic methods that include creative means, BWCC hopes to provide access, information, education, and therapeutic experiences to those who are currently marginalized from those who are not. BWCC will be the liaison between two communities in order to facilitate one overall community.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
BWCC was created and established out of creative means. I had partnered with a local organization, Literary Cleveland, to create an anthology through their Amplify Voices series. The anthology exposed a much larger problem that was impacting a very large people group.

I have always been a creative soul, processing my emotions and experiences through creative means. I write poetry, song lyrics, prose, journal, sing, design, and decorate. All of these outlets provided a safe space for me to be a whole person in my most healthiest version of myself. Mental and emotional health is essential to overall success. So many leaders fall, crash and burn because they lack good mental and emotional health.

I could not imagine managing the trauma that life brings without these creative outlets. BWCC provides safe spaces for black women to pursue outlets through creative means. We also offer life efficiency services to help manifest our participants’/clients’ goals after they’ve processed through their outlets. We hope to equip women so they are prepared when the opportunity avails itself through access.

This journey was not easy for me. People look at my social media post or see me out and think that I do not struggle or that my life has not been hard. I have experienced immeasurable suffering at the most extreme levels. However, my life has a greater purpose than that pain. And what good would it do any of us to wallow and sit in the suffering we are dealt?

I hope that the lessons I’ve learned, the knowledge I’ve acquired, and the wisdom I’ve gained can help to empower and equip someone else to supersede their own suffering and manage it well. It is my intent to provide this through BWCC.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I often joke that my life is pretty boring. My friends think I’m crazy! Nevertheless, I will attempt the task at hand because I do know of some great places to eat and get a great ambiance in Cleveland. It’s so funny because I recently met someone who has relocated to Cleveland from Houston, Texas and I’ve literally been showing them the city. Cleveland has burrows much like another major city. You have to visit a few places when you come to Cleveland:

– Chagrin Falls where you can experience a touch of Paris, France at the Paris Room for dinner and drinks, then walk around the
falls for some ambiance.

– You have to visit The District in Shaker Heights to experience some fantastic local pizza from Scorpacciata while you enjoy all
the little artisanal shops in the plaza

– Larchmere has Loganberry Books where there is live music, an open mic, public readings, etc…, you can also grab some great
tacos and margaritas from Hola Taco or some Brazilian-inspired cuisine from Batuqui Brazilian Restaurant.

– Then there is Summer House in Lakewood where you can get the metropolitan feel on the lakefront with fine dining

– Also in Lakewood you can get a pie and cocktail pairings at the quaint little themed spot Rood

– You can’t forget Brewnuts for sugar rush in Ohio City and the perfect Mediterranean-style lunch at Astoria Cafe

– Then there is the Tremont area where there are great little places to shop and great places to eat: Fat Cats has a fantastic
brunch menu, Literary Tavern has perfect mussels and zucchini frites, and Lucky’s Cafe’s lamb burger will change your life!

You can the end night with a pic in front of the Cleveland sign in Tremont and possibly dance on the doc at Alley Cat Oyster Bar.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I have had many people who throughout my life encouraged me or impacted my journey in some capacity. I first want to mention my mother, who showed me that the world is so much bigger than my four-block radius as a child. She was intentional to take me and my sister places every weekend. It initiated my desire to expand my perspective beyond myself. I had several teachers who saw something in me before I could ever see anything in myself:

– Ms. Day, who married and become Mrs. Pruitt, made me stay in from recess and white papers on black historical heroines and
insisted that I take math with the fifth graders all while I was in second grade.
– Mrs. Jacqueline Rush poured into me to build my self-esteem, and self-love as well as develop my mind intellectually. She
made my transition from elementary school to middle school seamless and gave me a gift of self-love that I never had before.
– Mrs. Byrdsong, my AP English teacher in high school, challenged me beyond my own perception of my personal capacity. She
pushed me to do more, read more, to write more, and discover so much more about life. She also personally stayed after
school to work with me. She expected so much more out of me as the only black female girl in her class and pushed me to be
better than everyone else in the class.

My childhood pastor Elder Donnell L. Lipford, who taught me to gain knowledge for myself, not to just believe what people say or tell me, but to know for myself.

Lastly, my grandmother taught me to be a lady, how to command a room, how to be honest when it’s hard and not just when it’s easy, to live honestly and as purely as possible, to serve others well with intention toward their well-being and not your own, and most of all to put God first in EVERYTHING.

I still hear their voices in my head in almost every aspect of my life. I carry their wisdom tight and lean on it in almost all the decisions that I make.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blackwomencoping/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/blackwomencope

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRgZ6KjYxm5_arD7yRWSBSg

Other: https://www.litcleveland.org/events-programs/black-women-coping-in-cleveland

Image Credits
Photo by Dr. T. Carter