THOUGHT LEADER AND SCHOLAR PRACTIONER
I change the way people see themselves, their relationship to work, and what becomes possible when we are intentional about both.
I work at the intersection of organizational development, employer branding, and employee experience, right there in the distance between where workplaces are and where they have to be.
PEOPLE + WORK
Modern society has fundamentally rewritten the social contract between people and work.
Expectations have shifted, technology has advanced, and how a good workplace is defined has evolved almost faster than organizations can embrace.
We find ourselves in the messy middle of a real transition, and while these moments breed uncertainty, they have always been the most fertile ground for innovation and opportunity. The organizations that recognize this start by looking inward.
The employer brand is a living organism, shaped by every interaction, every decision, and every moment where organizational values either show up or they don't.
Before we can ever tell our brand story in a way that attracts the right people, we have to intentionally create an environment conducive to performance and retention. Staying on payroll isn't enough.
The goal is buy-in. The goal is people who show up fully, contribute meaningfully, and choose to stay.
In a world where people organize their entire lives around experiences, work cannot be the one place where experience is left to chance.
Across every tier of an organization, from entry level to the executive suite, people are seeking alignment in ways they never were before, because the quality of our lives are directly shaped by the quality of our experience at work.
When that alignment exists, work is no longer something to survive. It starts to become something that belongs in a full, intentional life. And when this is the experience, at every level, people perform differently. They lead differently. They remain.
The People. The People. The People.
The human layer beneath every organizational challenge. Everything centers here.
I am Lakia Carter, but most people just call me Carter.
I'm currently a doctoral student in Organizational Development and Change at Bowling Green State University, where my research centers on employer branding for the modern labor market. I was particularly drawn to the workforce pipeline after spending nearly a decade in K-12, observing exactly what happens when organizations lose the people we need most.
I am a strategist and a storyteller. Through my work at Orange Strategy, a Baton Rouge-based marketing firm, I lead branding and workforce marketing projects, strengthening EVPs, developing recruitment marketing campaigns, shaping culture narratives, and positioning organizations as desirable employers for some of the largest industries in the Gulf South.
I'm a builder. Building the life of my dreams, strengthening brand positioning, and connecting people to opportunity.
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On average, seven people read a published academic article. That gap, between what research knows and what practitioners need, is exactly why this exists. Over Espresso is where I translate research into something useful, occasionally respond to what's happening in education right now, and generally share my overall thoughts.
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