20 Questions with Majora Carter
5 min read or 40 min watch Majora Carter is a real estate developer, urban revitalization strategy consultant, MacArthur Fellow and Peabody Award winning broadcaster. She is responsible for the creation and successful implementation of numerous economic development, technology, green-infrastructure projects, policies and job training & placement systems. Two projects of note are Hunts Point Riverside Park and the Boogie Down Grind Café in the South Bronx, New York.
Civic Design Center is celebrating our 20 Year Anniversary with 20 Questions from some fellow advocates and idols.
This is a screenshot of Gary Gaston interviewing Majora Carter on Instagram Live
The following interview is an edited and distilled version of the live interview that was held on March 16, 2021 at 3:30 pm central. You can view the full 40 minute interview on IGTV.
“When you know you are invested in any shape and form, you see your community differently. We have investors in the [Boogie Down Grind] café!
We want people to see the value of them having investments in their own community. When people feel like they’ve got equity in their own community, it adds value to people feeling even more equal and more free.”
What city or town do you call home?
The Boogie Down otherwise known as the South Bronx, NY
What would be your favorite place to live in other than the one you currently live in?
It’s very different than the South Bronx, it’s Santarém, Portugal!
What is your favorite public resource in your home or favorite city or town?
Hunts Point Riverfront Park. It’s really important for the public realm to have something meaningful and beautiful—with or without the pandemic.
What was your childhood dream job?
Elephant Trainer or a Jockey
what are some of the most exciting aspects of the work you do?
Every single day brings a challenge that you have to figure out, and it’s a really incredible way to flex your creative muscle because there is almost always a creative way to deal with things.
If you had to tell a 7th grader, what does it take to do what you do?
Learn to speak up and out early so you weed out who your friends are not.
What would you tell a 7th grader that you would have loved to know?
Be a little kinder to yourself; everything is going to be fine. 7th grade is a tough year!
If you could have had a different career what would you have done, or what might you do next?
I’m fantasizing about being a mosaic artist right now, but I think I would want to be writing screenplays for movies.
What impact have you made on your community that you are most proud of?
The physical projects, specifically in my community, that allow people to be together and allow them to see themselves in their community in a positive light because it is a beautiful place to be in. It makes me happy that I can actually claim a little bit of that.
What has been your favorite speaking engagement?
There is this school called Public Prep, and it’s adorable. They name their classrooms after significant leaders, and there is a Majora Carter class, so my favorite speaking engagement is when I get to go and speak to the Majora Carter class because to see these little tiny beautiful 5 and 6 year olds that are open to learning and they see me as this larger than life figure. It’s super fun! They are open and eager to live their best lives because the school has taught them they can do anything.
That’s so heartwarming. You are just a superstar when you show up there. Who was the most inspiring or influential person you’ve ever met?
One of them, who was one of my first mentors and who is now passed away, was Yolanda Garcia. She started to do work when the neighborhood was still burning back in the day, and she taught me that I could really be a part of my own neighborhood’s revitalization and that I could be proud of doing it myself. She gave me the license to see myself as a powerful person.
Who is someone you would really like to meet?
Beyoncé!
What is the first word you think of when you hear…
Community? Love
Equity? Money
Design? Excellence
What development project really does inspire you?
There’s a group out in Oakland called East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative. They are building off of 7th street that really had a rich musical history and it’s going to be owned and operated by the community. I actually just wrote about them in the book that I handed off to my publisher! When you know you are invested in any shape and form, you see your community differently. We have investors in the [Boogie Down Grind] café! We want people to see the value of them having investments in their own community. When people feel like they’ve got equity in their own community, it adds value to people feeling even more equal and more free.
What is your favorite...
Park or public space? Hunt Point Riverside Park. It’s the park I started; I got married there—it really is an exquisite park.
Street? So many of them that have a vibrant streetscape, people watching, and they make you feel safe and comfortable at the same time.
Mode of transportation? Walking—it’s just my favorite thing to do.
Do you have a favorite author?
Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower just blew my mind. I also just started reading N.K. Jemisin’s books—she’s a science fiction author. Sista is fierce.
Have you ever written a book?
Now I can say that I have! I can’t believe I wrote a book—I just handed my first draft to my amazing publisher, and it’s really kind of cool. I’m really excited about it. It’s called: Reclaiming Your Community: You Don’t Have to Move Out of Your Neighborhood to Live in a Better One. It’s all about our approach to community development and some of the joys and trials and tribulations and more joys that I got out of the work that I have been doing for —wow—more than two decades! It comes out in February 2022, but stay tuned for this May when I’m doing an author talk.
Do you have pets?
I have two dogs, Monkey and Khaleesi.
What is it like to own a pet in your neighborhood?
Gary and Majora laughing at the memory of Majora’s 80 lb dog in a duffel bag on the subway
I’m really lucky because even though we live in New York, we have a backyard. They can’t get on the subway though. The New York City law is that you can only bring a dog on the subway with a bag, and so we got a duffel bag and cut holes in it so we could bring our 80 lb dog the subway. No one ever stopped us, but technically she was in a bag!
What do you think is one of the biggest lessons you have learned in the pandemic?
How much we really need each other and how much we should value togetherness.
When we are able to travel again, where is the very first big trip you would like to go on?
I think it has to be Santarém, Portugal because there are horses and olive oil and it’s just an hour from Lisbon!
Would you like to share one of your favorite memories from Nashville?
One was hanging out with you on that cool street with all the music (Lower Broadway) at Layla’s. That was just amazing! And another time was when I was doing a talk in 2019 at the J.U.M.P. Christmas Extravaganza, and there was that amazing Mistress of Ceremony, Diane Christian, and she was like, who is this girl from up north? and she was not feeling me, but after my talk she was like, “Oh”, and she invoked her daughter who is a big fan of Beyoncé, and she said she just had to address me the way she should have, so she said, “Heyyy Ms. Carter”! I was very pleased.
Majora speaking at the J.U.M.P. Christmas Extravaganza in 2019