Have you ever wondered how design and architecture can uphold racial inequality? According to a 2020 report, only 0.4% of licensed architects in the United States are Black women. So, what does it mean to occupy this space of a Black woman? What does it mean to use architecture as a form of life-affirming storytelling for marginalized communities? Donna Carter, architect and civic leader, based in Austin joins us to talk about designing our way to a more equitable future through our understanding of physical spaces as places of community building, storytelling, and healing.

Donna D. Carter, FAIA is President of Carter Design Associates, an architectural, planning, and restoration firm in Austin, Texas. Her practice is focused on projects combining revitalization, historic preservation, and new construction within a complete community context.

As a civic leader, she has held volunteer and board positions for non-profit health care providers and social service advocates since 1986, serving in board and board-appointed positions for Austin’s Seton Family of Hospitals from 1996 until 2016 and Austin ECHO.  She has recently finished 2 terms on the board of Huston Tillotson University and currently serves on the board of AIA Austin.

We left this conversation thinking more deeply about the physical structures that permeate our everyday life and how we can be agents of disruptions and co-agitation through design. ✨