Amberly Carter lives and breathes equity work. The diversity executive spends her work days ensuring that educational institutions, from kindergartens to universities, are creating inclusive and equitable spaces so learners at every stage of their education can thrive. While the Illinois-based expert has officially worked for 15 years in the DEI and social justice space, in reality sheâs spent her whole life surrounded by this work. For a very specific reason. âIâm the cousin of Emmett Till, the 14-year-old boy whose brutal murder in 1955 is said to have sparked the Civil Rights Movement,â says Carter. Her grandfather was first cousins with Tillâs mother, making Carter and Till third cousins.
Mamie Tillâs work for racial equality has long inspired Carter. âAfter Emmett died, Mamie became a Chicago school teacher, and she was very passionate about helping young people reach their greatest potential,â says Carter. In fact, Mamie Till and her husband, Gene, invested in Carterâs college education from a young age. And all of that has had a direct and positive impact on the trajectory of Carterâs life. âWatching her turn her pain into purpose is what led me to this work,â says Carter.
With her passion for equity and social justice so innately engrained in her personal history, in only makes sense that Carter's side hustle has a similar goal and intention: to help people do their best with inclusivity and equity in mind.
In 2018, she officially launched Hello Ambi, her one-stop-shop for all your business needs. On top of providing DEI counseling, Carter also provides potential clients with tracking buyer behaviors, snappy email marketing and launching their own podcast (essentially, she does it all). No matter what project she's taking on, it all comes back to promoting equity in the workplace.
âIâve tried walking away from the work before,â says Carter, who has a background in systems and project management. âIt gets hard and Iâve let people down, but something always seems to pull me back in. I guess there is still more room for me in this space to do my part in helping people make justice a part of their business.â