By Jenifer Spencer
On her journey of empowerment and her mission to amplify women and their stories, Carrie Cook has built a career supporting the women around her, while building one of Charlotte’s most impressive resumes.
Carrie previously worked for the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce, as the VP of Talent Development and Economic Growth. While at the Chamber, she helped lead the campaign to pass the largest school bond in Mecklenburg County history – a nearly billion-dollar campaign for 29 high-need public school projects. It was during this time that she founded EmpowHERment, an organization “committed to empowering girls and women to be leaders through mentorship, talent development and advocacy.” Cook began a movement in her hometown of Charlotte that has helped over 1,300 girls with EmpowHERment’s leadership academy, mentoring program and annual summit since its inception. While building this non-profit, she joined the Junior League of Charlotte, Inc. (JLC), a natural fit in her journey. From there, Cook has moved on to become the founding Executive Director of the GreenLight Fund of Charlotte, while still holding a board seat with EmpowHERment, and expanding her roles within the JLC. This impressive career has held true to what Cook acknowledges as her personal philosophy — “One of the big things that’s important to me is to amplify the voices of other women and to lift up and highlight our work and support network – true to the spirit of advocacy and amplification that I really believe in, and make my personal philosophy.”
As a native Charlottean, Cook began her career by filling a void she could feel first-hand. It was a natural progression into a movement that has made a powerful impact on our city. Cook recounts the development of EmpowHERment saying, “It was very organic; there wasn’t an intent to start a non-profit organization. The only intent was to do more for girls in my community, because I’m from this community and a lot of the programs that existed when I went to elementary, middle and high school are defunded or no longer exist. There was a huge need, especially with the emerging presence of technology, where girls are looking to connect and are influenced in so many different ways.” Cook notes girls and women might have been connected through social media, but they were missing the opportunity to connect to someone sitting right next to them in their own community. “The goal was to figure out a way to bring girls and women together for more intentional relationship building, product development, and cultivating of our voices.” These connections allow the girls “to be in control of what we want the next generation of leadership to look like in our city,” Cook emphasizes.
Cook joined the JLC in 2015. She found herself drawn to the League for some of the same reasons that she started EmpowHERment, explaining, “Building and connecting women to realize their full potential in Charlotte attracted me to membership, but I also wanted to get connected to other women leaders who are on that journey and who are really passionate about being a force for good in the Charlotte community.”
As a member of the JLC, Cook has held a variety of positions, including writing for The CRIER. She describes how the role of reporter fit with her personal philosophy of amplifying voices of other women by having the opportunity to highlight the stories of women around the League. After several years on the Public Policy Institute committee, Cook became the Chair, utilizing her legislative and advocacy perspective from her experience in policy and politics. She describes the JLC as a force for good in the Charlotte community, saying, “The League offers a chance to learn more about what’s happening, not only from a nonprofit perspective, but also what’s happening with the state of affairs with women.” She goes on to explain, “It’s really a stepping stone into whatever you need it to be for your own personal journey as a woman, whether it’s a combination of social and/or civic and/or professional development, I think it [JLC] provides an opportunity for all of those things.”
As an established JLC member, Cook founded the Charlotte branch of the GreenLight Fund, a national fund network. She launched the $3.5 million fund at the end of 2017 as Executive Director. This work intersects with policy, but is more focused on community investments for low income children. Cook’s philosophy as a leader allowed her to move on to launch this new project, while remaining an active member of the EmpowHERment Board. “The important thing to note is that you can build things and do things, but as an effective leader you don’t have to hold onto it forever. You can still be involved, but the whole goal is to groom a team of other amazing women leaders and girls who can continue building a legacy,” Cook says. “We have an amazing team of people who put in so many years and work to build EmpowHERment so that it’s a sustainable organization for girls and women in this community for years to come.”
Cook has been recognized for her hard work: in 2011 Carrie received the Young Public Administrator of the Year Award from the National Forum of Black Public Administrators, and in 2012 she was selected as one of nine leaders under 30 in Charlotte for the World Economic Forum Global Shapers Community. Carrie was also recognized as the 2013 Emerging Leader Woman of Achievement by the YWCA Central Carolinas for her commitment to empowering women, eliminating racism and promoting social justice. The United Negro College Fund recognized Carrie with their inaugural Maya Angelou Young Leader Award in 2016 and in 2018 she received the Woman of the Year Award from the Mecklenburg Times.
Accolades aside, Cook reflects on the role of the JLC over her career.
“The [JLC’s] impact on the ability to serve is really about amplification. I’ve met so many women that otherwise I may not have crossed paths with outside of the League, and we have formed relationships that have been able to amplify our work, whether it’s with empowering girls and supporting their leadership development, or arts & community, or human trafficking or culture, fashion, you name it…finding women who are passionate about different things in our community and then being able to amplify their work and connect them with other resources and leverage those resources and connections for greater impact – that’s probably been the greatest reward of everything.”
