Camille at the Madison Black Business Awards in February 2024 at the Monona Terrace.
Photograph by Hedi LaMarr Rudd/Hedi LaMarr Photography
From the farmers and array of blue-collar workers to having the most manufacturing jobs per capita, the Midwest has a reputation for being filled with hard workers. Maybe it’s just something people say to make us do the work nobody else wants to, but there’s no denying there are individuals in the area who just don’t stop putting in the hours. Madison resident Camille Carter is testament to that fact.
Camille’s family is full of people who think the term break means breaking out of a huddle so the real work can begin. Her family consists of business owners, auto factory workers, and landscapers, then there’s an added push that comes from being raised by a single mother in Detroit, Michigan—a mother who, two months after retirement from the Department of Corrections, started a catering business. Expectations were high, but the support was always there to work hard and press forward.
“My mom taught us that there are no limits,” says Camille. “Limitations are self-inflicted, and we have a choice. She was often the driver and the motivator…and the enforcer. Just really instilling the sense to go out and do something new—something different. Don’t be afraid. I think in her life, because of how she grew up with her parents, she was restricted in many, many ways. And she regretted it. Just bitter about it to a degree. But she didn’t want to carry that forward. She was insistent that that wasn’t how she would raise us.”
When it came time for Camille to go off to college, something she aspired to her whole academic career, she planned on majoring in psychiatry at Michigan State University. After just one course, she quickly recognized it wasn’t for her and shifted gears to focus on business and economics. A competitive soul seeking new challenges, that blue-collar work ethic she inherited warped into ambition in the world of financial services. Over a short period of time, through various jobs and her work in corporate America, the spirit of an entrepreneur began to take shape.
The Peace Corps took Camille to work in Togo, West Africa, but it was an even stronger force, her three-year-old daughter, that brought Camille to Madison, Wisconsin. “I wanted a little more of a family-friendly environment, and Madison was the number one place to raise a family.” Though Camille commuted to Milwaukee and around the state for work, Madison would inevitably steer the course of her professional life.
For every opportunity that came up, Camille would ask, “Is this the opportunity for me? I’m pretty spiritual. My life has been driven and directed by callings.” It’s something of a talent of hers to recognize these callings, even when she’s not too keen on heeding them. Which brings us to 16 years later, when the Madison Black Chamber of Commerce asked Camille to take on the role of president.
“I didn’t want to lead a chamber. This was not a part of my business plan. At that time, I was working on my third business. But I had been a successful entrepreneur and had time and flexibility, and my daughter was a little bit older. When I speak to divine awareness, I didn’t see it as that; I just saw it as something that I absolutely did not want to do. But it did not go away. Over time, I realized this was a calling that I just didn’t want to accept. I have always been motivated by money, and at this moment, the organization had none.”
Part of the issue with taking on the role of president of the Madison Black Chamber was that if she did, Camille would have to go all in, and the chamber was on life support. For two and a half years, Camille went without compensation so she could build up the Chamber’s resources. In true Camille fashion, she did what she set out to do and made the Chamber stronger than it had ever been.
The more I learned about Camille, the clearer it became that this role couldn’t be a better fit for her strengths, but it also taught her a form of patience she’d never had to consider. In the for-profit world of corporate America, things happen at the speed of green. In the nonprofit world, everything takes time. There’s no way to know what the payoff of your actions will be, so you have to be confident as you work toward something that might never come to fruition.
Photograph by Talia Nchang/Expressions Photography
In a way, Camille’s work with the Madison Black Chamber has been like her work as a single parent. It’s those lessons that her mother taught her so long ago that she used when raising her now 26-year-old daughter. “When you watch a parent who makes sacrifices for you. When you have that relationship as a single parent, you have to be very honest with your children and learn how to accept those hard edges in life earlier on. … Hopefully, you look back on those decisions, sacrifices. If you’re lucky, you surmise, ‘That was right.’”
One of the hardest things for young entrepreneurs to hear is that they have to show up and be present. It’s not enough to ask for money; it’s having a dream and finding ways to take action on that dream. Camille speaks highly of those who have supported her through her struggles, and she serves as that same mentor to others. The payoff of these efforts isn’t immediate, but the ball keeps rolling as it’s passed along.
Being president and CEO of the Madison Black Chamber has shifted Camille’s idea on what it means to live local. Working regularly with small businesses highlights the importance of shopping local and making those community investments. It’s part of her tenacious spirit that leaves her open to continually learning new things. She’s living in the present while looking to the future, always bringing more to the table than she takes away.
