A former track and field student-athlete who founded an organization focused on holistic health recently produced Pretty in Power: A Jersey City Women’s Empowerment Conference in celebration of this year’s Women’s History Month.
“We invited some amazing businesswomen, leaders in politics and community, women who had done some transformative work in Jersey City as well as across the state, to be speakers,” said program founder Dr. Leeja Carter. “The first part of the day was one-on-one interviews with them, and I asked them questions about their journeys through leadership and through business.”
One of the speakers, Dorota Mani, owner of Design by Mani and co-owner of Café Peanut, spoke about how her background in jiu-jitsu has enabled her to be a strong, self-empowered woman. “That journey in athleticism gives her discipline and allows her to see things in a way where she doesn’t see challenges as deterrents; she sees them as opportunities,” said Carter.
A track and field student-athlete at Fairleigh Dickenson University, Carter went on to earn a master’s degree in psychology and a doctorate in kinesiology with a concentration in the psychology of human movement. After spending more than a decade working in academia, she founded the Coalition for Food and Health Equity in 2020, with a focus on holistic health.
Her research is centered on making a community impact. A program she created, Ujamaa Well: An Integrated Wellness Program for Black Women, funded by Google’s Racial Health Equity Initiative, is examining physical activity. One cohort recently finished a 20-week program and another cohort will soon be enrolled. Participants receive exercise psychology coaching as well as nutritional education.
“It’s all centered on a decolonized wellness approach,” said Carter. “We’re not focused on the steps on your Fitbit (which participants receive), but instead how you define wellness as a conduit to actually being able to achieve your fitness goal. We’ve had awesome outcomes with cohort one.”
Among the topics that Carter has written about are health and sport equity. In 2019, she published “Feminist Applied Sport Psychology: From Theory to Practice.” She has been an athlete her entire life, but it took until college for her to follow her desire to be a pole vaulter. She also threw the discus and was a track and field team captain.
“Pretty in Power represents creating safe, affirming spaces for women,” she said. “These types of spaces are necessary, particularly for women in sport, providing affirming environments that normalize the challenges that women experience.”
