Today we’d like to introduce you to Andraya Carter.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Andraya. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I started playing basketball at the age of 4 and by the time I was 7, I told my mom and dad that I wanted to play in college and, specifically, I wanted to play for the Tennessee Lady Vols and Pat Summitt. Fast forward five years later and I started getting really good at basketball, I was playing with girls a couple of years older than me on the BEST AAU team, the GA Elite. I say the best not because we were the greatest athletes but because we were like a family. We were the tightest knit group and since they were all older, they really looked out for me. I got my first scholarship offers in eighth grade from playing with that team and things started really picking up from there. Towards the end of tenth grade, I received the offer I was always waiting for, a scholarship offer from Pat Summitt and Tennessee. I committed to Tennessee as a sophomore and became very close with Pat and the whole staff and all of the players. I loved the team. I loved Knoxville. I knew it was where I needed to be. When Pat told me she was diagnosed with dementia, my commitment never wavered and, even though her last year coaching would actually be my senior year in high school, I stayed with my decision to be a Tennessee Lady Vol- a decision I would never ever regret. I was one of the last three players to sign my scholarship with Pat Summitt’s name on the paper and I was one of the last players to ever know her and be loved by her. Lucky me :). I had an incredible career at Tennessee. I wasn’t the scorer on the team but I was the hustle and the defensive player for sure. I knew my role and I loved it so much. However, my years on the court were plagued by injuries. I tore my ACL in high school and ended up needing a few knee surgeries in college. I also had surgery on my shoulder, my hand and my chest. My senior year when I realized I wasn’t going to be the professional basketball player that I always dreamed of, I decided to put the basketball down, finish my master’s degree, and begin what has now become a career with ESPN. I was living in Knoxville finishing my master’s degree and commentating the Tennessee online games on ESPN3 when my friend- a former Tennessee soccer player- told me I HAD to try Orangetheory. I had fallen out of the habit of working out since I wasn’t with my team anymore and she loved Orangetheory. I tried it, loved it and became semi addicted to the workouts! Being born and raised in Atlanta and still having six younger siblings in Atlanta, I decided to move back to Atlanta to continue my career with ESPN BUT I needed a job to go with it. So, I moved back, figured out what I needed to do to become an Orangetheory Fitness coach and I have been with Orangetheory and with ESPN ever since. It’s a perfect combination of my passions. I also met my beautiful fiancé at my first Orangetheory fitness studio and have gotten into some fitness modeling opportunities in Atlanta! So I guess you can say it all fell together pretty perfectly after the really difficult decision to give up basketball.
Has it been a smooth road?
The road has definitely been very difficult/rocky at times. It is hard when you have one dream growing up as a kid and when you’re SO close to achieving that dream to realize that it isn’t going to happen the way you always imagined and the way you always worked for. I put in so many hours and so much work to try and become one of the best and my body just did not hold up enough to get me far enough. However, I would say to other women to have a strong support system, to have multiple passions/strengths, to make as many connections to others as possible and to have a very open mind for the possibilities of the future. I never imagined myself coaching fitness or being on TV as a basketball analyst. But, sometimes you don’t know what you love until you try it. The connections part is HUGE because I had so so so many people help me along the way with ESPN and with Orangetheory. There is no way I would be where I am by myself.
Tell us more about the business.
I am the head fitness trainer at Orangetheory Fitness Buckhead and I am a women’s basketball analyst and reporter for the SECNetwork and ESPN. Honestly, I think the thing I am most proud of in both fields is my ability to connect to others and my ability to communicate and get important messages across to the members in OTF and to the audience when I’m on TV. With the members and Orangetheory- I want everyone to feel important, successful and feel like they DO have what it takes to be healthy and reach their goals. I want to give them positivity and uplift them every time they come in the studio. I know working out isn’t everyone’s favorite thing to do or even close to it. Some people HATE working out but I hope that when they come to our studio they never walk away regretting that they took class that day. So connecting to them and finding their WHY and really understanding g how to motivate them is something I take a lot of pride in and that is really important to me. With ESPN I think connection and communication is huge because you want to be able to connect to the players and coaches to earn their trust so they really open up about their programs ups and downs and goals and then knowing how to communicate those things in the game and in a way that connects to the audience is really important. In both fields, it also takes a lot of confidence to successful- especially if you mess up or don’t have a great day- so I think the confidence to put myself out there is also something I am proud of.
What do you feel are the biggest barriers today to female leadership, in your industry or generally?
I think the biggest barriers are confidence and support. Women have to feel confident enough to step up and speak up AND to do that it also takes a lot of support, especially from other women, to encourage us to do so.
Contact Info:
- Address: 3097 Piedmont Rd NE, Atlanta, GA 30305
- Email: andraya.n.carter@gmail.com
- Instagram: Andraya_Carter
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drayacarterotf
- Twitter: Andraya_Carter
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