THE DIGITAL REPOSITORY FOR THE BLACK EXPERIENCE
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Food franchise executive Valerie Daniels-Carter was born on February 5, 1958, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Kathryn and John Daniels. She received her B.S. degree in business administration in 1978 from Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri, and her M.B.A. degree from Cardinal Stritch College, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
While in high school, Daniels-Carter served as a secretary at a U.S. Army recruiting office. Upon graduating from college, she received an offer to play professional basketball with the Milwaukee Does. She instead worked as a retail and commercial lender at First Wisconsin National Bank (later U.S. Bank) and an auditor in the financial underwriting division of MGIC Investments Corporation before she and her brother John started V&J Foods in Milwaukee with one Burger King restaurant in 1982. V&J Foods became V&J Holdings and expanded its portfolio to include more restaurants, including Pizza Hut, Auntie Anne’s, and Häagen-Dazs. V&J Holdings has been named in the Top 500 Women-Owned Businesses by Working Women Magazine, Top 200 Restaurants in the U.S. by Restaurant Finance Monitor, and Top 100 Black-owned Businesses by Black Enterprise.
In 2011, Daniels-Carter joined the board of the Green Bay Packers. Three years later, Daniels-Carter, Michael J. Barber, Virgis Colbert, Charles Harvey, and Cory Nettles formed Partners for Community Impact and acquired a minority ownership stake in the Milwaukee Bucks NBA team.
Daniels-Carter has served as chair of the American Automobile Association (AAA), president of Milwaukee World Festival, Inc., and the Minority Franchise Association of Burger King Corporation, CFO of Auxiliaries in Ministries of the Church of God in Christ, executive board member of the National Franchisee Association, and on the boards of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, Firstar Bank, Auto Club Group, and AAA of Michigan and Wisconsin.
Daniels-Carter was named Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young and Merrill Lynch in 1994; received the Business Award from the National Rainbow PUSH Coalition in 1997; was recognized by Essence as one of the Top 10 Black Female Entrepreneurs and one of the 50 Most Inspiring African Americans in the U.S.; and received the Legacy Award from Black Enterprise, which also named her one of the 50 Most Inspiring Women in Business and one of the women of the Black Enterprise 100. Daniels-Carter has received honorary degrees from Cardinal Stritch University and Lincoln University and is a member of the National Black College Alumni Hall of Fame.
Daniels-Carter lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She and her late husband, Jeffrey Carter, had one son, Jeffrey Carter II.
Valerie Daniels-Carter was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on January 26, 2022.