Carla Stokes, Ph.D., M.P.H. is an internationally recognized women’s and adolescent/teen health expert, health educator, and empowerment coach. She is also the founder of Helping Our Teen Girls In Real Life Situations, Inc. (HOTGIRLS)®, an award-winning 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering underserved young women and girls to develop leadership skills, create positive social change in their communities, and realize their full potential. As a passionate public health educator and advocate, Dr. Carla has devoted more than 15 years to youth programming and is respected as a leading authority and trailblazer in the fields of girl empowerment, women’s health, adolescent/teen health, HIV/AIDS, and youth development.
Through her groundbreaking research and life-changing work, she passionately inspires healthy behaviors, self-empowerment, and personal growth in women, youth, and girls; empowers parents to raise healthy, happy, and resilient daughters; and prepares educators and girl advocates to uplift the next generation of women leaders – and she can do the same for you! A sought-after, dynamic, and memorable speaker, Dr. Carla has lectured widely and delivered powerful messages to diverse audiences of women, youth, girls, parents, educators, health and social service professionals, girl advocates, and concerned adults. She is available for speaking engagements, media appearances, in-person and virtual coaching, and consulting projects.
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Dr. Carla’s Full Biography
Carla Stokes, Ph.D., M.P.H., affectionately known as “Dr. Carla,” is an internationally recognized women’s and adolescent/teen health expert, health educator, speaker, and empowerment coach. Her personal mission is to help women, youth, and girls achieve their personal best in life, make healthy choices, and create positive changes in their own lives and the world around them.
Women’s & Adolescent/Teen Health Expert
Dr. Carla’s activism and original research in the areas of women’s health, adolescent health, girlhood, HIV prevention, and sexuality has been highlighted in academic books, studied in multidisciplinary courses at institutions ranging from Ivy League universities to small liberal arts colleges, and featured in media outlets and popular web sites including The New York Times, Reuters, Heart & Soul Magazine, Daughters, Real Health: The Black Wellness Magazine, The Crisis, American Sexuality magazine, AlterNet, and Feministing.com. Dr. Carla has also been interviewed as a women’s and girls’ health expert on television networks around the United States such as NBC, CBS, and Fox.
Dr. Carla’s groundbreaking scholarly research on the intersections between adolescent girls’ sexuality and identity with youth culture, hip hop, and social media has appeared in scholarly publications including the international peer-reviewed journal, Culture, Health & Sexuality and the book, Girl Wide Web 2.0: Revisiting Girls, the Internet, and the Negotiation of Identity, edited by Sharon Mazzarella. As an expert on women’s health and youth issues, Dr. Carla has presented her research and community-based work at scientific meetings and national conferences of professional associations including the American Public Health Association, American Anthropological Association, and the National Council for Research on Women.
Dr. Carla graduated cum laude from Spelman College with a Bachelor of Arts degree and departmental honors in Psychology. She earned Doctor of Philosophy (with distinction) and Master of Public Health degrees in Health Behavior and Health Education (with a minor in Social Work) from the University of Michigan (consistently ranked in the top five schools of public health and social work in the U.S.). Her doctoral dissertation research was funded by a Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation/Johnson & Johnson Dissertation Grant in Women’s Health and won honorable mention in the University of Michigan Distinguished Dissertation Awards competition (selected from more than 660 dissertations).
At the University of Michigan, Dr. Carla’s graduate training focused on improving the health of women, youth, girls, and communities of color by developing, implementing, and evaluating effective programs and strategies to promote healthy choices and behaviors. She also taught courses on women’s health and representations of women in hip hop and popular culture as an instructor in the Department of Women’s Studies. Dr. Carla investigated racial/ethnic health disparities and health policy issues as a National Institutes of Health Doctoral Trainee at the Center for Research on Ethnicity, Culture & Health, W.K. Kellogg Foundation Health Policy Research Fellow, and Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Public Health Fellow. After earning her Ph.D., Dr. Carla completed a two-year post-doctoral research fellowship at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where she conducted research on HIV prevention in communities of color and women’s and adolescent health and sexuality.
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Health Educator & Advocate for Women, Youth & Girls
Dr. Carla has mentored and educated youth for more than 15 years and emerged as a leader and trailblazer in the fields of women’s health, adolescent health, youth development, and girl empowerment. During her freshman year at Spelman College in the 90′s, she tapped into her passion for health education and youth empowerment while volunteering as a peer health educator and mentor to underserved youth at numerous schools and community organizations in Atlanta, Georgia and Washington, D.C. After realizing that the existing sexuality education and violence prevention curricula needed to be adapted in order to effectively reach the hip hop generation, she developed her own creative lesson plans and materials that utilized popular TV shows, movies, and rap songs and videos to educate urban teens about sexuality, HIV/AIDS, dating violence, and other health and social justice issues. Through these efforts, she recognized the need for youth friendly, age appropriate, and culturally relevant health education programs and decided to pursue graduate studies in public health and social work at the University of Michigan.
After completing her Master of Public Health degree and spending a year working as a health consultant, Dr. Carla answered an urgent call to continue her education and dedicate her life to improving the health and lives of young women and girls. Shortly after returning to the University of Michigan to pursue her Ph.D., Dr. Carla founded Helping Our Teen Girls In Real Life Situations, Inc. (HOTGIRLS)® in November 2001 with only $20 and a passion for educating youth and empowering girls to realize their full potential. Since its humble beginnings as a one-woman HIV/AIDS education initiative for young women and teen girls delivered in a social networking site, HOTGIRLS has transformed under Dr. Carla’s leadership into an award-winning youth-driven 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization that has positively impacted thousands of youth and adults across the United States. Now celebrating 10 years of service, HOTGIRLS is dedicated to improving the health and lives of underserved young women and girls through leadership development, media education, peer health education, and youth activism.
Dr. Carla is recognized as a pioneer in the use of hip hop and the Internet to reach and uplift youth and girls and promote positive images of women and girls in the media and society. Dr. Carla is deeply connected to today’s young women and girls and serves as a bridge between youth and those who care about, educate, mentor, and advocate for them. Over the years, she has listened to the concerns of thousands of women, youth, parents, educators, and professionals and is recognized for her ability to effectively engage and connect with people of all ages from diverse racial/ethnic, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds.
Speaker
Dr. Carla and workshop participants at the Girl Scout Leadership Institute in Indianapolis
A sought-after, dynamic, and memorable speaker, Dr. Carla has lectured widely and delivered powerful messages to youth, parents, educators, health care and social service professionals, girl advocates, and concerned adults. She uses her knowledge, insight, creativity, humor, and compassion to address pertinent topics related to women’s and girls’ health, HIV prevention, youth development, leadership, popular culture and media, personal development, relationships, and empowerment through multimedia keynote addresses, breakout sessions, workshops, retreats, teleseminars, webinars, and training programs. Dr. Carla blends her training and research with personal stories of self-discovery to educate, inspire, and encourage her audiences to take responsibility for their actions and choices. Her life-changing work has inspired young women and girls to believe in themselves and step into their greatness.
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Empowerment Coach
As a certified coach, Dr. Carla combines her extensive training as a behavioral scientist with her real-life experience as a health educator, speaker, mentor, and girl advocate to empower young women and girls to overcome challenges and achieve their greatest potential. She conducts private and group coaching sessions, seminars, and workshops in person and by phone/Skype/Internet. Dr. Carla empowers parents and guardians to raise healthy and resilient daughters and shares her expertise, life lessons, and advice with young women and girls on a wide range of topics, including academic achievement, career exploration, decision-making, healthy behaviors, romantic and family relationships, self-esteem, body image, friendship, entrepreneurship, leadership, community service, and goal setting. Dr. Carla teaches women and girls new ways of thinking about their lives and encourages them to push through limiting beliefs and pressures that hold them back from achieving their personal best.
Her coaching clients appreciate her nonjudgmental, compassionate, honest, down-to-earth, humorous, and laid back style of communicating, which makes it very easy for young women and girls to feel comfortable talking to her about their personal lives, challenges, concerns, and dreams. Dr. Carla’s approach to empowerment coaching for youth challenges the common belief that young women and girls need to be controlled by adults. Instead, she values young women and girls as leaders and experts on their own lives. Through a range of coaching modalities, she helps her clients develop resilience, resist negative influences, build healthy relationships with adults and peers, embrace their authentic selves, cultivate self-love, maximize their strengths, develop a positive self-image, and create positive changes in their lives and communities.
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Consultant
Dr. Carla provides program development, evaluation, technical assistance, web development, and social media consulting to organizations, nonprofits, educational institutions, and private corporations that reach women, youth, and girls. She has provided consulting services to federally funded community-based organizations addressing the public health needs of people of color, women, and youth.
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Current Projects
Dr. Carla is currently writing her first book and creating educational and coaching products and programs devoted to uplifting women and girls.
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