Carla E. Stokes, Ph.D., M.P.H.
President, Chief Executive Officer & Founder

Click here to visit Dr. Carla's web site.

Professional Summary
Education
Courses Taught
Research Interests and Projects
Selected Publications
Speaking Engagements
Professional Affiliations
Community Service
Additional Information

Professional Summary

Dr. Carla is an activist, health educator, researcher, and consultant.  She is passionate about advocating for black women and girls and has volunteered her time as the founding President/CEO of HOTGIRLS since November 2001. Dr. Carla is recognized for her unique expertise in developing culturally relevant and youth-friendly educational strategies and media literacy efforts for young black women and girls.

Dr. Carla came of age in the hip hop generation and is a pioneer in the use of hip hop and the Internet to uplift black girls. She 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 to educate youth about HIV/AIDS, sexuality, dating violence, and other health and social justice issues.

Dr. Carla 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.

Education

A graduate of Spelman College, Dr. Carla 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. Dr. Carla's doctoral training focused on racial/ethnic health disparities, social inequalities in health, HIV/AIDS prevention, adolescent health, 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. 

She has also completed extensive training in web design and web development at Emory University, where she earned an Advanced Web Design Certificate.

Courses Taught

• Representations of Black Women in Hip Hop Culture
• Black Women's Health and Social Issues

Research Interests and Projects

Dr. Carla's scholarly research 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 home pages constructed by 216 black adolescent girls residing in southern states with the highest rates of HIV/AIDS.  As the first study of black adolescent girls’ home pages, this research 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). Dr. Carla conducted this study in consultation with an expert panel of black adolescent girls from the Atlanta metropolitan area.

Selected Publications

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.

Speaking Engagements

Dr. Carla speaks to adult and youth audiences and conducts multimedia presentations at universities, schools, conferences, youth groups, and community events about women’s and girls’ health, adolescent sexuality, media images, hip hop, adolescent cyberculture, and girl culture.  Her audiences have included the following universities, agencies, and organizations:

• American Anthropological Association
  
• American Public Health Association
  
• Blackgirl Magazine
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Annual Legislative Conference
• Columbia College Institute for Research on Women & Gender in the Arts and Media
• Dare 2 Dream Foundation, Inc.
• Fulton County Department of Health and Wellness - HIV/AIDS Community Summit
• Fulton County Juvenile Court - Sister-to-Sister Mentoring Program
• Gates Millennium Scholars Leadership Conference
• Georgia Young Women’s Health Summit (sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office on Women's Health, Region IV)
• Howard University Hip Hop and Higher Education Symposium
• Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault (ICASA)
• Ms. Foundation for Women
• National Council of Negro Women - Greater Atlanta Millennium Section
• National Council for Research on Women
• National HIV Prevention Conference
• San Francisco State University Department of Human Sexuality Studies
  
• Sex::Tech STD/HIV Prevention Conference focusing on Youth and Technology
• SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Health and Sexual Rights National Conference
• Stanford University: "The Hip Hop Lectures" sponsored by the Hip Hop Archive and African and African American Studies
• University of Chicago Hip Hop and Feminism Conference
• University of Michigan Hip Hop and Cultural Studies Collective Conference 

If you are interested in contacting Dr. Carla about a speaking engagement, please visit her web site.

Professional Affiliations

• American Public Health Association
• Black Women's Health Imperative
  

Community Service

Additional Information