Welcome to the Forty Over 40 blog. We frequently spotlight one of our honorees and their thoughts on reinvention, mentorship and momentum…plus a peek into what makes them tick.
This Q & A is with Rebecca Carroll, High Profile Voice on Racial, Feminist, and Other Equality Issues. Rebecca is innovating her field of work at WNYC by producing a series of special projects on race, having a critically acclaimed podcast in partnership with The Nation magazine “There Goes the Neighborhood, looks at race and gentrification in Brooklyn” and writing five books of interview-based narrative nonfiction about race.
1) What was a pivotal moment of reinvention for you?
In 2014 the day Mike Brown was shot in Ferguson, Missouri, after which my son, who is mixed and has lighter brown skin than I do, asked if the police were going to shoot me. I have always been involved in racial justice activism — it has been integral to my writing and work — but that day took it to another level. My blackness became resolute in a way that it never had been before. My son had openly acknowledged the real threat, both for him and for myself, that I could be killed just for the color of my skin. And although this has been the case since the country was founded, indeed it is one of the country’s founding principles, somehow the ache and anxiety and recognized breach of humanity expressed through his question made it real for me in the most exquisitely trenchant way. While he himself identifies as black and biracial, he knows that people will generally perceive him as racially ambiguous looking — that he doesn’t immediately register as black at first glance. His concern for me was palpable. His love for me was palpable. My blackness came to represent something bigger than me maybe for the first time in my life.
Since then the tenor of my writing has shifted, my vision for racial justice is sharper, my efforts as a parent to instill black pride in my son are more urgent, the work of de-centering whiteness in a larger cultural context has become essential. But there have been casualties. One of my oldest friends — a white woman from college, who was also one of my bridesmaids — has not come with me in this evolution, which has been both heartbreaking and sobering.
2) What is your biggest goal right now?
The same goal it has always been — from the day my 5th grade teacher told me with complete casual indifference that I was “very pretty for a black girl” and I realized how deeply ingrained racism is in this country — and that is to change the way people think, talk and experience race in America by reinventing language and creating a pointillist narrative that changes the face of this country. More specifically, tangibly — by producing multi-platform projects (in radio, TV and online media) that achieve this goal in nuanced and enduring ways.
3) How did you get your first job? How did you jump to your second job?
I’ve worked since I was 13 or 14 years old. But if you mean first “professional” job in the field I’m still in — excluding internships — I wrote a letter explaining why I was right for the job. A really good letter. That got me an interview, and then I just brought my whole damn self to that interview. I’m a huge proponent of showing up for interviews as you are, and as you will be in the position you are applying for — no surprises later. And if you aren’t allowed to be true to yourself in a position, then it’s not the position for you.
4) What time do you typically wake up? What do you do every morning?
I don’t really enter the world as a fully present human until after 10am. That said, during the school year, I get up by 7am, make breakfast for my son, pack his lunch, get him off to school (by 8:20 or so), go for a run (about 4 miles), shower and get into the office usually by about 10:30am. During the summers it’s mostly the same, though maybe 7:30 or 8am wakeup if my son’s camp day starts a little later. On the weekends I can easily sleep until 9am and feel no shame whatsoever.
5) How do you unplug? How often do you unplug?
I’m not very good at unplugging but when I do, I read books. Real books. Mostly novels. Not on a Kindle or any kind of screen. A book with pages that I can turn. Even though I am often reading for work (as a critic for review), the joy of getting into the words and the story is still so gratifying.
6) What’s the best networking contact you’ve made? How did you make it?
The best networking contact I ever made was Henry Louis Gates, Jr., who I know as Skip — I applied for and accepted a position as a receptionist at the Department of Afro-American Studies at Harvard University in 1994, much to the chagrin of my boyfriend at the time, who thought the position was beneath me. I knew that Skip was doing something extraordinary at Harvard — creating this “dream team” of black academics and professors, but more broadly, he was creating visibility and space for black intellect, and I wanted to be a part of that. The year after I left that job, during which time I published my first book, Skip invited me back to Harvard, but this time as a W.E.B. Du Bois Fellow. And still after that, Skip introduced me to Charlie Rose, who later hired me as a producer for his show on PBS, which marked the formal beginning of my career in media.
7) What challenge / achievement are you most proud of?
Detoxing from the deeply destructive relationship with my birthmother (I was adopted at 3 weeks old in an open adoption — long story), whose self-serving power and influence over me was absolute from the day we reunited when I was 11 years old until the day I cut ties just before my 25th birthday. It was like being reborn, which also meant learning how to think for myself, and figuring out who I actually was and could become. It was terrifying and deeply painful and enormously challenging, but also so profoundly liberating.
8) What cause do you most want to advance?
Racial justice.
9) What song can’t you get out of your head?
All I Do by Stevie Wonder
10) What is the best piece of advice you ever received?
You can’t broker personal relationships. They are not property deals. They are people.
11) What is your “keep me going” quote?
“We die. That may be the meaning of life. But we do language. That may be the measure of our lives.” — Toni Morrison
12) Who on the list of prior Honorees would you like to meet?
Farah Mohamed, Nilofer Merchant, Kimberly Bryant, Betsy Beers, Jalak Jobanputra, Bettina Sherick, and Stacy Ratner.
Check out Rebecca Carroll’s full 40 Over 40 profile here!
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