Nancy Carter is executive director and co-founder of the Urban Los Angeles affiliate chapter of NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness).  She is a board member of the NAMI National organization and a Los Angeles County Commissioner for Children’s Policy.  Ms. Carter is recognized as one of the country’s leading advocates for mental health in communities of color.

Ms. Carter was born in a small coal mining town in West Virginia and grew up in Washington, D.C., where she attended Howard University.  She left her university studies to pursue a career in modeling in New York City.  While there, she also studied acting at the famed Negro Ensemble Company and worked as a tour guide at the United Nations. She moved to California in 1971 and began a 30 year career in various areas of the entertainment industry.  From 1994 to 2002, she was the owner of Applause!  the Audience Company, where she supplied audiences for popular African American television shows.  She left the business after making a reflective decision to devote her full time efforts to the cause of mental health.

In 2007, Ms. Carter received the NAMI California Consumer of the Year award of excellence for her contributions to mental health consumers.  She has been a recipient of volunteer awards in mental health from the County of Los Angeles and from the LA County Board of Supervisors.  She is well known in the Los Angeles mental health community.  She serves on several local, state and, national committees for mental health planning, crisis intervention, criminal justice and multi-cultural outreach.

Ms. Carter is a certified Family to Family teacher for NAMI and has graduated over 250 students from her classes in recent years.  Additionally, she is certified to teach mental health providers and primary care physicians.  She also conducts support groups, workshops and has given presentations for the public at local churches, schools and county agencies.  Furthermore, Ms. Carter has developed and taught workshops in the areas of foster parenting, probation, cultural competency and spirituality & faith in the African American community.  She is a nationally sought after speaker on mental health and recovery.

If you were to ask Nancy what brings her the most joy in life, she would respond by saying “helping others to help themselves”. The motto of NAMI Urban says it all – “No Family Stands Alone”.