Dr. Cari Jackson is the youngest child and only girl of the four children of Robert and Gladys Jackson. Raised in Baltimore, Maryland, her parents shaped in her a deep love and compassion for people across social and demographic lines, a strong sense of social responsibility and justice, and a profound connection with the sacredness in all of life.

Dr. Cari has a deep passion and a grand vision of helping people discover and live their deepest, most authentic and powerful selves. 

Like many people, Cari was socialized in her home, church, school, and society to think of  herself as small, less valuable than others, not good enough. She learned to “stay in her place.” Her parents taught her to think big, but not too big to help her avoid getting hurt in a society that was hostile to blacks. Her early church experiences taught her to stay in her place through class- and color-based hierarchy and patriarchy.  In school, she dealt with limiting presumptions from teachers about what her intellectual capabilities were as a black student.  She experienced race and gender discrimination in workplace after workplace – being set up for failure, overlooked for promotions, being lied to and about, and credit for her work given to others.

Throughout her life, she was given messages “nigger go home” when being in spaces where some did not want her, and “who do you think you are?” when others recognized her excelling so naturally.Socialized as a dark-skinned, working-class black girl to stay in her place in the background, Cari spent many years trying to limit herself to live in small dreams and operate below the measure of her tremendous gifts and talents. Her self-limiting patterns were heightened by multiple experiences of sexual trauma.

To avoid the pain that seem to come with simply being who she was, she often sabotaged herself when she was excelling and being noticed. For years, she didn’t feel safe when operating in her full beauty, strength and power.

But nothing about these experiences is exceptional. What is exceptional is that in the midst of these life-limiting messages and self-sabotaging behaviors, Dr. Cari’s indomitable spirit kept calling her to express her grandest self, and she said yes! What is exceptional is Dr. Cari's ability to harness pain, trauma, and heartache and transform them to strengthen her character marked by joyfulness, humility and compassion, deepen her capacity for unconditional love, and expand her work on behalf of justice for all people. This what Dr. Cari calls "the manure effect", converting the manure that comes in life into fertilizer.

When she risked being her full self, she observed two remarkable benefits: incredible joy and happiness within her soul and significant impact her skills and insights brought to the lives of others. For Cari, these benefits became well worth the risks.

She has learned in her own life that it is only when she lives expressing her full self that she experiences the greatest fulfillment, happiness and freedom. 

Her joyful spirit, genuine caring and insightful wisdom are readily apparent when Dr. Cari speaks. Whether in a television interview, a church setting, academic environment or community event, she inspires, informs and challenges audiences. She draws deeply from her toolbox of down-to-earth mother-wit, genuine love for all people, strong passion for social justice, vast theological knowledge, excellent comedic rhythm, and her special blend of intellectual, spiritual, and political acumen.

Her ability to connect publicly with others translates well in a variety of venues. Whether at a women’s prison in South Africa, an LGBTQ rally in Cuba, a primary school in Kenya, or a classroom of deaf students in the U.S., Dr. Cari captivates audiences with her natural style and approachable ease. She engages audiences in meaningful and interesting ways, often crossing language barriers. With or without the assistance of interpreters, Dr. Cari has a masterful ability to “speak in tongues.”

Once, when Dr. Cari was the final speaker on a panel in Cuba discussing religion and sexuality, despite her need to communicate through an interpreter, the audience became significantly more enlivened when she began her presentation more than they had been with any of the earlier, Spanish-speaking panelists. After the presentation, she was told simply, “You spoke to our hearts as well as our heads.”

She holds three graduate degrees (Law, Master of Divinity, and Doctor of Philosophy), yet her gentle spirit and approachability are inviting almost from the moment you first meet her. As she says, “I didn’t give myself my intellect. I was given my intellect as an incredible resource to help heal the world.”