Today, we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Noni Carter.
Hi Dr. Carter, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I have the wonderful pleasure of wearing different professional hats in what I consider to be a multi-hyphenate career as a published author, financial advisor, scholar, and performance artist. Below is my journey in each sphere!
My authorship journey began when I was 7 or 8 years old as I used my pen to explore my curiosity about the world around me. My first novel, Good Fortune, a Young Adult historical fiction slave narrative inspired by the stories of my family told by my great Aunt Addie, was published with Simon & Schuster (2010) during my second semester in college. With this publication, I traveled the country offering educational workshops in secondary schools. I am a 2016 graduate of Voices of our Nation and was the recipient of the 2019 PEN/Phyllis Naylor Working Writer Fellowship for my work-in-progress YA novel Womb Talk.
Though I trained as a classical pianist prior to college, I shifted my focus to academia during my tenure as an undergraduate at Harvard University where I studied the history and literature of the postcolonial world with a joint degree in African American studies. Encouraged to expand my research in the French Caribbean by a wonderful professor from Martinique, I received Harvard’s Rockefeller Fellowship to embark on several projects in Martinique and Guadeloupe the year after graduation.
From there, I completed a PhD in French and Francophone Studies at Columbia University, where I studied memory, gender, and slavery in the literary traditions of the Black diaspora. I taught in various disciplines at the University level (and now offer regular lectures and workshops in the financial sphere). I have and continue to publish several academic and creative articles in various U.S.-based and international journals, and completed a dissertation entitled “Homo Narrans: in Pursuit of Science’s Fictions of the Human in Eighteenth-Century Science and Contemporary Sci-Fi and Speculative Fiction” that I am currently preparing for publication.
Just as relevant is my foray into the world of financial advising. My interest in the financial industry began at 17 when I sold my first novel and received a significant book advance, money which, though managed by a well-intentioned individual, was gone within a year. I decided then to learn both the language of investing and eventually the nuances of large and small portfolio management so that I could pass this competency on to those who could benefit from my advice and guidance. I have been doing so ever since.
Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I believe in the power of the journey and am grateful for the moments of introspection I’ve been given throughout this journey. I’ve learned, sometimes in moments of harrowing indecision and self-doubt, the importance of following a vision that truly is unique to you and the future self you’re aiming to become.
I suffered from burnout, during which I learned that “lows” can be fascinating and wonderful opportunities to work on core beliefs that might keep us from becoming all that we are. I can also be a bit of a perfectionist and have recognized (in retrospect) opportunities I’ve been given to adjust my timelines for what inevitably has placed me on journeys even larger than I can imagine.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Edward Jones?
As a financial advisor with Edward Jones, I believe in the importance of understanding the stories around what matters most to my clients, their families, and their businesses and work closely with individuals to develop tailored, quality, comprehensive, and forward-thinking strategies to help clients reach ever-evolving goals.
My branch’s mission is to help clients redefine the meaning of (inter)generational wealth by offering comprehensive, educational, and mindset-driven frameworks that will assist clients in their journey towards financial freedom and well-being. My personal goal is to combine my various interests to aid in the redistribution of wealth in our community and the innovative tackling of the negative effects of capitalism in our society.
I am most proud of the ways I have been called to serve community through this pivot as well as my commitment to honoring all other aspects of myself and my multifaceted profession. I consistently receive beautiful feedback about the extent to which I’ve helped a family organize their financial picture for greater success or a business owner organize their assets to grow their wealth and build their legacy and I’m proud of this calling.
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
I love the creativity from the people I meet in this city. I love least the traffic!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.nonicarter.com
