Executive Director, Helping Ourselves to Transform (HOTT)
Dr. Carmen R. Johnson, an Indigenous woman, is the presiding Executive Director of Helping Ourselves to Transform (HOTT), following in the legacy of her late sister and HOTT’s co-founder, Karen Smith. With a background in Corporate America and more than 30 years of community leadership, she brings a unique blend of strategic expertise and lived experience as a survivor of wrongful incarceration to her role as a nationally recognized advocate and policy strategist. Dr. Johnson has devoted her career to dismantling systemic injustice, advancing healing-centered approaches, and mentoring the next generation of changemakers through partnerships with law, sociology, public policy, and psychology programs. Under her leadership, HOTT is strengthening pathways to equity, accountability, and transformation for communities most impacted by mass incarceration, gender-based violence, poverty, and trauma.
This work is deeply personal to me. As a survivor of wrongful conviction and imprisonment, I know firsthand the weight of injustice and the silencing voices within our courts and correctional systems. Our mission is to center survivors’ voices, advocate for policy change, and build pathways to freedom, dignity, and restoration. Through initiatives such as Reclaiming Me: A Healing Journey for Women and legislative advocacy like the PATH Act, we are challenging the way courts and parole boards view women who are victims of abuse and sexual assault at every level of domestic violence.