Dr. Carla’s Bio
Professional Summary
Carla Stokes, Ph.D., M.P.H., is an educator, life coach, speaker, and girls’ studies researcher. Dr. Carla is also the Chief Empowerment Officer of Dr. Carla LLC and Girls Destined for Greatness™, a health promotion, coaching, and self-empowerment company for young women and girls. She is passionate about advocating for women and girls and founded Helping Our Teen Girls In Real Life Situations, Inc. (HOTGIRLS), an award-winning 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the health and lives of black young women and girls in 2001.
Dr. Carla is uniquely qualified to carry out her mission to inspire the next generation of empowered young women and girl leaders. She has reached thousands of youth and is known for her expertise in developing culturally relevant and youth-friendly educational strategies and media literacy efforts for youth and girls.
Photo by Derek Blanks PhotographyThrough her work, Dr. Carla serves as a bridge between girls and those who care about, educate, mentor, and advocate for them. She came of age in the “golden era” of the hip hop generation and is recognized as a pioneer in the use of hip hop and the Internet to uplift youth and girls. Dr. Carla became interested in HIV/AIDS, sexuality education, and public health while volunteering as a peer educator during her freshman year in college in the 1990’s. At that time, she began using rap music lyrics and videos in the classroom to educate her younger peers about HIV/AIDS, sexuality, dating violence, and other health and social justice issues.
Dr. Carla is frequently invited to speak locally and nationally to adult and youth audiences and conducts multimedia presentations at conferences, youth groups, community events, professional associations, schools, and prestigious universities. Dr. Carla also consults across the United States and provides program development and evaluation assistance to youth-serving organizations, nonprofits, educational institutions, and private corporations. Since 1999, Dr. Carla has provided evaluation services and technical assistance to federally funded community-based organizations addressing the HIV/AIDS and substance abuse treatment and prevention needs of people of color, women, and youth.
Dr. Carla’s research and activism has been featured in national media outlets including the New York Times, Heart & Soul magazine, Daughters, Real Health: The Black Wellness Magazine, The Crisis, American Sexuality magazine, and Sisterhood Agenda magazine.
Research Interests and Projects
Dr. Carla has a strong research and teaching background in the sociocultural and health dimensions of women, gender, media, and sexuality studies. Her groundbreaking scholarly research builds on her more than 16 years of valuable experience working with youth and explores intersections of gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, class, and age with mass media, youth culture, and the Internet. Her Ph.D. dissertation research study investigated sexuality, hip hop, and self-definition in Internet profiles constructed in a social networking web site by 216 black adolescent girls residing in southern states with the highest rates of HIV/AIDS. This research was published in the international scholarly journal, Culture, Health & Sexuality and won honorable mention in the University of Michigan 2004 Distinguished Dissertation Awards competition in recognition of exceptional and unusually interesting scholarly work produced by doctoral students (selected from 660 eligible dissertations).
Education
Dr. Carla graduated from Spelman College with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and earned Doctor of Philosophy and Master of Public Health degrees from the University of Michigan in Health Behavior and Health Education (with a cognate in Social Work) under the co-advising of Drs. Larry M. Gant and Marcia C. Inhorn. Her doctoral training focused on women’s and girls’ health; adolescent health and sexuality; racial/ethnic health disparities; social inequalities in health; HIV/AIDS prevention; Internet-based public health interventions; and qualitative and quantitative research methods.
In November 2006, Dr. Carla completed a two-year post-doctoral research fellowship appointment at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention where she conducted research on HIV prevention in communities of color, with a focus on black women and adolescent girls.
Courses Taught
Dr. Carla developed and taught two original undergraduate courses in the Department of Women’s Studies at the University of Michigan: Representations of Women in Popular Culture: The Hip Hop Influence and Black Women’s Health and Social Issues.
Selected Publications
Stokes, C.E. (In press). “Get on my level!”: How black American adolescent girls construct identity and negotiate sexuality on the Internet. In Sharon R. Mazzarella (Ed.). Girl Wide Web 2.0: Revisiting girls, the Internet, and the negotiation of identity. Peter Lang Publishers.
Stokes, C.E. (2007, March-April). Representin’ in cyberspace: Sexual scripts, self-definition, and hip hop culture in black American adolescent girls’ home pages. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 9(2): 169-184.
Stokes CE. & Gant LM. (2002). Turning the tables on the HIV/AIDS epidemic: Hip hop as a tool for reaching African-American adolescent girls. African American Research Perspectives, 8(2), 70-81.
Certifications
- Advanced Web Design Certificate, Emory University
- Certified Owning Up™ Curriculum Facilitator
- Certified Personal Development Coach, Coaching and Positive Psychology (CAPP) Institute
- Certified Teen Wisdom™ Life Coach
Professional Affiliations
Community Service and Public Engagement
In addition to her work with HOTGIRLS, Dr. Carla serves her community by volunteering with children and teens at numerous schools and community organizations in Atlanta, Georgia. In recognition of her community leadership, Dr. Carla’s biography was included in Who’s Who in Black Atlanta.
Additional Information
Dr. Carla is working on books, products, curricula, and media devoted to uplifting young women and girls and inspiring them to take positive action to create extraordinary lives and social change in their communities.
