Sally K. Carter is making a difference in children’s lives in our community. She is the founder and director of TAP in Leadership Academy, a program that aims to “educate, equip, and empower youth leaders living in marginalized, urban communities to enhance educational achievement, self-esteem, and cultural awareness.” The Academy operates a summer enrichment program as well as after-school programming during the school year. She is also a board member of the YWCA at the University of Illinois.
Carter and her husband, James, have been married for 12 years and have lived in Champaign-Urbana for more than 10. They have three children: daughter Jazzlyn, 15, son James III, 10, and daughter Jalyece, 9. She enjoys “meeting new people, sharing ideas and turning impossibilities into reality.”
See why we think Sally K. Carter is a Chambana Mom to Know.
Q: How did you get the idea to start TAP in Leadership Academy?
I am constantly asked the very simple, yet complex, question: What makes you do all that you do with TAP In and for children? In the past, I have answered generically “People are my passion.”
While this is true, the reality is, I did not know how to answer without delving deeply into my personal past and reliving unimaginable experiences.
A native of Chicago’s West Side, I have experienced the challenges of growing up in a low- income, urban community. For as long as I can remember, I refused to define myself by my circumstances. I was instinctively inspired by my own individuality.
I do what I do because as a child, I had no voice. All I had were my visions. I imagined happy children, safe children. I always saw myself smiling and reaching out my arms to other children, although I, too, was a child.
Today, when I close my eyes, I see the same visions as I saw as a voiceless child: safe children, happy children. The difference is that I am no longer voiceless. Because of my relentless commitment to the social and emotional wellbeing of children, I also see happy and healthy children. The difference is, my eyes are open.
Q: How do you define leadership?
Leadership to me is the ability to stand while bringing others up with you. Daring to be different takes courage – a gift with which I was born. There has never been a time in my life, as a child or as an adult, in which I did not fight for another person’s right to be happy: to be themselves. For me, that is true leadership. I want every child to take the leading role in his or her own life: to embrace who they are; challenge the person they are not; and tap in to the leader they are purposed to be.
Q: What leaders do you look up to?
I have looked up to Oprah Winfrey since I was around 10 years old. So much that I went to college to be a news reporter! After graduating Illinois State University with my Bachelors in Mass Communication, I decided there could only be one Oprah Winfrey. I was determined to find who Sally was meant to be. Ten years ago, I realized my purpose and understood that my platform was in my ability to connect to children. I still look up to Oprah, just as millions of other women do. She has accomplished so much in her 25 years in Chicago and she makes it seem easy. There is a biblical quote that has stayed with me since I was a little girl, Luke 12:48, “To whom much is given, much is required.” I recently found out that Orprah also lives by this scripture. How cool is that?!
Q: What are your goals for children who participate in the TAP in Leadership Academy?
As the founder of TAP In Leadership Academy (TAP In) it is my personal responsibility to educate, equip, and empower each youth enrolled in our program. My goal is to enhance educational achievement, leadership development, and cultural awareness. By providing participating youth with an equitable opportunity for intellectual, social, and emotional growth, it is my long-term goal that all TAP In youth will be admitted to and complete a four-year college or university program.
My vision is to cultivate better scholarship and responsibility in youth to become contributing leaders in their families, their communities, and in the world.
Q: What are your goals for your own three children?
My goals for my children are the same as they are for TAP In children. It is the same for all children actually. I want my children to love who they are and respect themselves first. Respect others enough to learn about them: their cultures, religions, values, etc. Be brave enough to trust the voice within even when no one else does. Moreover, I want my children to keep God as the head of their lives.
Sally K. Carter was nominated by a peer to be a Chambana mom to know – send your nominations to editor@chambanamoms.com.