FLIPPABLE: Dontaye Carter for Mayor of Sandy Springs, Ga.
I grew up in Orlando, Florida in a single-parent, working-class home. My mother joined the army at 18 and had me at 20. By 24, she had four kids and was on her way to a divorce and having to reset her life. It wasn’t easy, but my mother was a strong woman. She attended college classes during the day, came home, cooked dinner, helped us with our homework, put us to bed, and went to work overnight while a neighbor took care of us. By the time I was a senior in high school, my mother had earned her degree, gotten remarried, and bought a house with my stepfather. It was through my mother that I learned what hard work, perseverance, and sacrifice meant.
I went on to attend Florida A&M University where I studied Broadcast Journalism. At the end of my sophomore year, I showed up at the local news station looking for an internship—but I ended up getting a job offer. I had to be at work at 4 a.m., so I began waking up at 3 in the morning every day. Then, I was out the door at 9 and had classes until 5. Six months and one promotion later, I was a morning show producer. And a year after that, I was running the morning show while completing my final year of school. The hours were long and grueling, but the thought of my mother working so hard and persevering (while raising four kids) was the fuel that always kept me going.
I moved to Sandy Springs eight years ago with one goal—to marry the woman who stole my heart at a Valentine’s Day party years earlier. At that time, I was working as a reporter in Valdosta, Georgia, and Karen had just finished her residency and was about to interview with Women’s Health Associates. I had driven up from Valdosta to attend a Valentine’s Day conference at our sister church, North River Church of Christ. When I asked her to dance, she said, “You don’t understand, I have two left feet.” So I told her, “I have two right feet, let’s see if we can find a rhythm.” And from that night on, we’ve been dancing to our own beat. She got the job, we got married, and together we’ve worked hard to build a life and a home for our daughter in Sandy Springs.
My father-in-law, George, also grew up in a single-parent, working-class home. Like my mother, he knew a thing or two about perseverance—he marched alongside Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the Civil Rights movement and went on to become the first Black veterinarian in North Carolina. George’s world revolved around making this country a better place for marginalized communities. And his work inspired me to make some changes in my own life. So I left television news in 2014 and joined former Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard as the youngest person ever to lead up the DA’s Public Affairs Department.
After a year working in that office and one especially tough case (four teens falsely accused of murder), all I could think about was my role in this system and the potential impact of those teens going to prison for a murder they didn’t commit. I decided to open my own Public Relations firm to assist attorneys in highlighting cases of injustice in a way that drives change.
My company was built on bringing context and awareness into the arena of public opinion. Our work has amplified many voices in Georgia and across the country, shining a light on some of the nation’s most prominent legal matters, including the cases of Ahmaud Arbery, Maggie Thompson, Jimmy Atchison, the survivors of R. Kelly, and many more. And this year, our campaigns have brought attention to SB 202 and voter suppression, while helping Rep. Park Cannon to share her experience with the public.
Now I’m running for Mayor of Sandy Springs because it’s time for the city’s leadership to reflect its growing, diverse population. It’s time for transparency, it’s time to resolve our water woes, and it’s time to look at strong anti-displacement policies to keep our citizens in their residences as we meet the needs of the growing metro.
https://www.dontayeformayor.com/