By Marcy Hege
Julia Carpenter
Making connections is an obsession for Julia Carpenter, a woman who is always on the move. Full of personality and passion, her involvement in community activities is contagious. Stay around Julia for any length of time and you’ll be pulling out your calendar to jot down times you’re available to help with a project or attend an event.
English by birth, Julia’s British accent can be heard as she promotes a myriad of activities here in the Triangle and across the state. She was the “voice” for the radio and television announcements describing the Monet in Normandy in Raleigh exhibit at the North Carolina Museum of Art, a volunteer role she undertook as president of the North Carolina State Art Society. You may have heard her voice on the air waves as she invited you to attend the International Festival in Raleigh or to visit the Woman’s Club of Raleigh’s Antiques Show and Sale at the Fairgrounds.
Public television viewers in the Triangle area saw and heard Julia during Winterfest as she encouraged you to make a pledge to support UNC-TV’s programming as one of her duties as a member of the UNC-TV’s board of trustees. She’s also been visiting with World War II veterans throughout the state on behalf of UNC-TV’s new initiative. In early December, she narrated her church’s annual cantata or you might have seen her in City Ballet’s production of The Nutcracker (she was the drunken aunt.) Why and how could one person be involved in so many community activities?
Julia was naturalized as an American citizen 14 years ago. She proudly showed other new U. S. citizens her own Certificate of Citizenship as she addressed the group during a Naturalization Ceremony in November. According to Carpenter, “My motivation lies in the fact that I believe, as a new American, I have a special obligation and duty to help other immigrants and to be involved with projects that improve understanding between cultures. My various projects and experiences have led me to meet people from all walks of life and I am often able to make connections for people to help enable them fulfill their goals.” She understands the cultural and language barriers faced by those who settle here from other parts of the world. Carpenter used her media expertise and own connections to develop and produce North Carolina’s Global Connections, a documentary which expounded our state’s interdependency with the world. The film helps the citizens of the state understand how we connect with the rest of the world.
After hurricanes ravaged several areas of North Carolina, Julia spearheaded a project to create disaster and emergency information in Spanish on audio tapes for distribution throughout the Hispanic community. After securing funding for the costs of the tapes, she persuaded a local recording studio and Hispanic interpreters to produce the scripts she had written. Thousands of these cassette tapes have been distributed through churches, medical facilities and businesses.
On the heels of a successful emergency preparedness tape project, Carpenter moved on to address another information need for a large number of the state’s Hispanic residents, many of whom are clients in local health clinics. With poor literacy levels and few resource materials written in Spanish, few understood either the need or the how of getting vaccinated. After crafting a partnership with the Immunization Division of N. C. Dept. of Health and Human Services, the Governor’s Office and the Woman’s Club of Raleigh, Carpenter created a statewide Spanish-language immunization awareness campaign. In addition, she found funding to translate a children’s book on immunization and worked with the Rotary Club of North Carolina to distribute more than 32,000 copies of the books throughout the state.
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Julia Carpenter speaks at the 2005 Inauguration Ceremonies in Raleigh.
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As the Chairman and Master of Ceremonies for the North Carolina Governor’s 2005 Inauguration, Carpenter oversaw volunteers and staff to coordinate the budget, proceedings, special events, podium roles, scripts, stage management, television production, security and logistics for the affair. Governor and Mrs. Easley wanted the event to be culturally inclusive and to celebrate North Carolina’s diversity and connections with the world so Julia was a perfect choice to balance protocol and decorum with diversity and cultural understanding.
Carpenter has recently completed another multi-media public awareness campaign addressing Meningococcal Meningitis. Julia connected DHHS, the Governor’s Office, Wake County Medical Association and the Woman’s Club of Raleigh with talent from Enloe High School to produce a statewide public service announcement targeting college students to persuade these young people to be inoculated against the deadly disease.
Recently appointed as the chair of UNC-TV’s North Carolina’s World War II Experience, Julia will oversee a campaign to capture memories and accounts of how the war affected the citizens of North Carolina and the state’s role in the world-changing event. Those who served our country during WWII are passing on at an alarming rate so the work to capture those recollections and its impact on the daily lives must be done immediately. Since the Baby Boomer generation is a direct result of WWII, many of Boom!’s readers and their parents may be interested in learning more about this initiative at www.unctv.org/wwii .
Julia could have maintained a relatively normal speed in life as mother, wife and homemaker. With a daughter at UNC Chapel Hill and a “soccer” son at Enloe High School, Julia has driven many miles to rehearsals, practices and games (not to mention the grocery store!) She explained how she squeezes in time to teach ballet, take oil painting classes, and garden with this statement, “My husband, Mike, is my strength and support and thanks to him, I am able to participate in those projects I undertake.”
With calendar in one hand and her cell phone in the other, Julia Carpenter continues making connections throughout the Triangle and the state. The people of North Carolina should consider themselves fortunate to be connected to this very special, giving woman. |
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