Judge Carter is a native Detroiter.  After graduating from Our Lady of Mercy High School, she attended Dillard University in New Orleans, Louisiana.  She received her Juris Doctorate Degree from Howard University Law School.

Judge Carter began her career in public service with the City of Detroit Law Department as a Law Clerk. 

After passing the Bar Exam, she began employment with the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office as an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney.  She was assigned to the trial section, the prosecutor's repeated offender's bureau and a docket attorney.  While at the Prosecutor's Office, she procured a federal grant for $1.6 million to start a community prosecuting unit in an effort to aid neighborhoods in Community Policing.  Her final assignment was as Chief of Communications. 

Among her involvement in various civic and charitable organizations, Judge Carter serves as an Arts Commission Board member for the Detroit Institute of Arts.  She is also an Advisory Board member for the American Civil Liberties Union and a commissioner for the Detroit Cable Commission.  Judge Carter has remained involved with law students and has been an instructor at the National College of District Attorneys.  

Mayor Kwame M. Kilpatrick appointed her as the Corporation Counsel for the City of Detroit in 2002.  Governor Jennifer Granholm appointed Judge Carter to 36th District Court in 2006.