Michelle Carter is this week’s spotlight for a lot of reasons. The biggest one has to be that we had the opportunity to talk with her and you can check out her official interview here. Self-promotion aside, Carter is an Olympic gold medalist but still has passions in other areas including giving back. She truly is a Shot Diva, killing it at shot put and slaying us with her beauty!
Carter attended Red Oak High School in Red Oak, Texas where she holds the National High School record. She and father Michael Carter are the only father-and-daughter team to hold those records. She attended the University of Texas on a full track scholarship and in 2006, she won the Collegiate National Championship. She went on to graduate with a degree in youth and communications studies, minoring in kinesiology.
After college, she continued to compete professionally at shot put. Despite winning the 2008 Olympic Trials, she finished 15th in the games. She won the National Championship for Shot Put in 2009, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016. She also competed at the 2012 Olympics and finished in fifth place.
2016 was the year for Carter, though. She won the gold medal in shot put, capturing the win with her last throw and becoming the first United States woman to win the event since its start. She is the second woman to win any of the medals in shot put after Earlene Brown won bronze in 1960.
In addition to her Olympic runs, Carter is a professional makeup artist. Actually, if you go on her website, you can have her do your makeup for special occasions such as weddings, prom and she even has makeup tutorials. If you’re not into makeup, she also has her own apparel line on her site. She sells t-shirts and necklaces if your budget doesn’t allow you to actually have her come do your makeup.
She runs her own sports confidence camp, “You Throw, Girl.” The camp works to heighten confidence in young, female athletes. Her mission is simple, “My mission is to help you look and feel your best… Everyone is different. You have your own style I just want to help enhance what you have and help you maintain it.” which she shares on the camp’s Facebook page. She’s also known for being an advocate for body positivity by posting pictures of her body and showing that her body is indeed feminine which is the constant stereotype about female athletes.
She also doesn’t care about what people have to say about her not being feminine,
Should I wear my false lashes or take the time I want to take so I can feel good when I go out on the field? Because nobody else was really doing that. And I thought, No: I’m not going to change what I believe I should look like to fit anybody else’s standards. I believe if you look your best, you’re going to feel your best, you’re going to do your best.
It goes back to the old saying; if you look good, you feel good and Carter is debunking the decade-long stereotypes facing female athletes slowly.
If I could compare Michelle Carter to anyone, it would be Wonder Woman because chances are she could kick your ass. She’s strong, smart, sassy, gorgeous and a female athlete on top of all of that she’s working to debunk stereotypes and change the world’s perpective of women so there was no way she wouldn’t be this week’s spotlight!
