Anita Carman

Founder & President

At the age of 17, Anita Carman arrived in the free land of America after the tragic suicide of her mother. In God’s grace, He carried Anita on an incredible journey from bondage and fear to physical, emotional and spiritual freedom. Today, Anita is the Founder and President of Inspire Women, a 501(c) 3 non-profit organization that inspires women across ethnicities, denominations, and economic levels to connect their lives to God’s purpose with year round programs to develop leaders for missions and ministry.

Beginning with zero in the bank, no office or infrastructure but with a clear vision from God to empower His daughters, Inspire Women operates today from a permanent spiritual oasis/headquarters on nearly 1 acre of land. The ministry reaches over 100,00  a year with year round programs to mentor over 600 leaders annually and to fund between 50-70 scholarships and ministry grants. The ministry has invested over $1,000,000 to empower God’s servants for missions and ministry.

Under Anita’s leadership, the story of Inspire Women has been featured on Channel 2 News as Houston’s mother of the year, Fox 26 News, WB 39 Unsung Heroes segment and local and international magazines. Anita was awarded a community leader’s medal from DAR, Daughters of the American Revolution for being a leader who changed America.

From Academic Excellence to Corporate Success to Full Time Ministry

Anita completed her bachelor’s degree in two years from the University of Mississippi, obtained an M.B.A. from the State University of New York and pursued an aggressive career in management consulting, working for top companies such as Booz, Allen, and Hamilton and Exxon. When God called Anita to ministry, she completed a second Masters from Dallas Theological Seminary where she graduated top of her class.

Anita served as a leader in Beth Moore’s Sunday school class for seven years where Beth called upon Anita to teach in her absence and told her one day, “Anita, You have the cloak, just dip it in the water.” Anita left Beth’s class to fulfill God’s calling for her life. She served for five years at the College of Biblical Studies, the largest multi-ethnic Bible College in the country where she began as Director of Women’s ministry and became the Vice President of Special Programs and Special Assistant to the President. In May of 2003, she left the College with the blessing of their leadership to establish a ministry to focus on God’s dreams in each woman and to offer each woman the level of training and the kind of training that best fits her calling and season of life.

Inspire Women was established with the vision to become part of the city’s infrastructure to annually inspire thousands with a strong follow up program to look for women who desire to change the world and to empower her to do so. As God establishes the ministry as a perpetual gift to Houston, the vision of Inspire Women is to inspire other cities to invest in the women in their city in a similar way.

Speaking Engagements

Anita is a sought after speaker in corporate America, women’s leadership conferences and churches. Some of her recent speaking engagements include a company wide employee motivation lunch with Reliant Energy, the Southern Baptist of Texas Convention Women’s Ministry Leadership Forum, the Women’s Leadership Summit founded by Jill Briscoe and organized by Elmbrook Church Women2Day, Rice University Women MBA Leadership conference, global televising of her teaching through Quail Valley Church on Daystar Television.

Titles of Published Books and Articles

“When Dreams Won’t Die”, Mom for God’s Glory, God’s Love Gift to Jesus, Lifeline Letters, “Transforming Emotions in a Leader’s Heart”, which is the training curriculum for Inspire Women’s Leadership Institute. Transforming for a Purpose: Fulfilling God’s Mission as Daughters of the King” was released by Moody Publishers July 1, 2009. Her latest book is titled “Making Sense of Your Life – Breakthroughs to finish the dream”.

In addition to her published books and articles, Anita is a regular contributor to the Houston Chronicle City Brights blog site for key community leaders in Houston. She also writes a weekly e-devotion that reaches thousands who have signed up for her weekly teaching.