Daily Inspiration: Meet Caroline Carter

Today we’d like to introduce you to Caroline Carter.

Hi Caroline, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Growing up on a farm in Southern Saskatchewan in Canada did not preclude me from having big ambitions. As a skinny straw-colored haired girl who loved horses, I soon swapped them out for fashion and Farrah Fawcett hair. I wanted to be a model. I even made a trip to New York City to go on “go sees” and stay with my Norwegian relatives who lived on Long Island. After wearing probably a little too much makeup to the modeling agencies open calls, I returned home to the flat lands of my homeland. I applied to go to the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology in Calgary, Alberta (SAIT).

I got accepted into their Cinema, Television, Stage and Radio Arts program by writing an essay that to this day I can’t remember what it was even about. I have worked in every single area of that degree. I wanted to become a sports broadcaster, so my first job was in Dawson Creek, British Columbia, a city of around 12,000 people located at mile 0 of the Alaska Highway. I prepared and read the 6pm and 11pm sports broadcasts for the local TV station. My next stop before working in major centers like Winnipeg, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal and Edmonton, was another small city called Dauphin, Manitoba where I read the morning sports news and was the play by play announcer for the Dauphin Kings Jr. A Hockey team. I rode the bus, sat in the front with the coaches, oftentimes with no heater as we traveled the province on icy roads, and at times in -50F with a windchill weather temperatures. I was a trailblazer and a ballbuster all rolled into one. It wasn’t unusual for the coach of the team to become incensed with me if I asked to many hard questions. One night he got super mad at me for interviewing the other team after a game. We had it out on the bus. I told him in no uncertain terms that he could get mad all he wanted but that I was a journalist and not a “cheerleader” for his team. I also told him being a journalist meant I had to speak to both teams after games. I told you I was ballsy.! Not long after, I was recruited to work in Winnipeg and then proceeded to make my way up the broadcasting ladder to Montreal where I met my husband who played football for the Montreal Alouettes. I probably should mention that for much of this early career journey I was a single mother before I met my husband Grant.

My daughter Alexandra was bounced around quite a bit as I worked the crazy hours that broadcast journalists do. Those hours range from day shifts to night shifts to overnight shifts to working overtime. It’s hard to find childcare when your hours are all over the place. That’s one hardship of a working mother that remains unchanged from the late 80s and 90s when I worked until today. Fast forward to meeting my husband. Grant became me and my daughter Alex’s “knight in shining armour.” No more sleeping on the newsroom floor on Friday nights for Alex in an effort to save on babysitting costs. Grant quickly embraced being a boyfriend, a babysitter and juggled his position as a defensive end on the Alouettes seamlessly. Fast forward to us arriving in the United States at the tail end of the year 2000. We’ve been in the Atlanta area since then, with one stop out of the state, but quickly moved back due to our love for the South. After having three more children and unable to get my foot back in the door of sports broadcasting, which was a male-dominated industry at that time. I settled into raising our four kids and playing tennis, just like a good Southern lady should. However, as much as I poured myself into my husband and kids, I desperately missed working. I missed exercising my creative muscle. So after 17 years at home, I ventured out into the Film and Television Industry that was quietly booming right under my nose. I got a call from my longtime tennis partner’s sister. She had moved out here to Atlanta from LA. She had a background company that she needed extras for various jobs. The first one I got was a union gig for Quiktrip.

Since I walked out the door that day, back in my business wear and out of my tennis clothes, I have never looked back. It was just enough to rewake my creative side and soon after, I started working more background gigs all the while working on getting headshots, getting an agent, which I got fairly quickly, and started taking acting classes in pursuit of becoming an actor. I soon started landing principal speaking roles that have taken me to Tyler Perry Studios. Tyler started up an impromptu conversation with me while I was working background and ended up casting me as a reporter, requiring no audition, in his Netflix film, A Fall From Grace. I work all over the Southeast., traveling for any Film, TV or commercial roles I can get my hands on. I also work as a UGC creator in my home. That is my bread and butter. I make videos for various clients for their products, services and brands, all from the comfort of my home. I get to utilize my broadcast skills too, as I am often called upon as a presenter/host/spokesperson. I audition on the regular and am still waiting on that Lifetime movie role 

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Working in a male-dominated industry back in the 90s definitely had its challenges. Also, throw in being a single mother who needed childcare so I could work odd hours was also stressful.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am an actress. I get cast mainly as a business professional, wealthy person, educator, boss, etc. I am proud of the fact I started back to work in my early 50s. That is very ballsy as most women in their 50s feel invisible so I hope I can inspire women to get back out in the workforce and pick up the dreams they left behind while being a homemaker.

What makes you happy?
Being creative makes me happy. I love being on set, acting or using my broadcast skills, it’s very fulfilling. I do nothing in an effort to become famous rather, I perform because it allows me to use the many skills I have. I just became an empty nester this fall and I am so thankful for my career or I would be missing my kids ALL the time if I didn’t have my career to keep my busy.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @carolinecarterofficial
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/caroline.c.carter.3
• Twitter: @carolinereports
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUBZ-XWMfvfbE9FOoRr9kag
• Other: https://linktr.ee/carolinecarterofficial

Image Credits
Hollywood Headshots Alise Cua