By EMILY SPARACINO / Staff Writer

Shelby County resident and business owner Miranda Carter was added to an elite group of women this year for the positive difference she is making in her community and state.

Carter, owner and operator of Johnny Ray’s BBQ in Chelsea and Columbiana, was selected for this year’s Women Who Shape the State, a program in which AL.com and Birmingham magazine recognize female leaders in Alabama.

“I was honored,” Carter said in an Oct. 28 interview. “It’s nice when the efforts you do put in are noticed.”

Carter, 31, is the only person from Shelby County included on this year’s list of 34 women throughout the state.

Though humble about her accomplishments, Carter has a long list of reasons to be recognized.

She started working at Johnny Ray’s in Pelham when she was 14 years old.

At age 19, Carter was attending the University of Alabama at Birmingham for business management when she asked Johnny Ray himself if she could buy a franchise.

Ray and her boss at the Pelham location agreed and helped her open her first Johnny Ray’s restaurant in Chelsea nearly 12 years ago.

Carter was 19.

“It was such an honor that they believed in me enough at such a young age,” she said. “It was always a dream of mine to own a restaurant.”

Despite how “glamorous” the restaurant business looked on the outside, Carter said she soon discovered how much time and effort behind the scenes were necessary as an owner.

“I definitely learned more in the first year I opened,” Carter said. “I did not realize the work and hours you put into it.”

She added more to her workload when she opened a Johnny Ray’s in Columbiana in 2013. By then, she also had her daughter, Juliana, who is 9 now.

“It was definitely different,” Carter said, noting she is as active in the day-to-day operations of her restaurants as any of her employees. “I work a different position every day. I just feel like that’s so important too. There’s not a day that goes by that I’m not in the business.”

Carter has received multiple awards over the years, including Business of the Year, New Business of the Year and Ambassador of the Year for the South Shelby Chamber, Business of the Year for the Greater Shelby County Chamber of Commerce and Best Barbecue in Shelby Living’s annual Best of the Best contest.

“I use my business as a platform to help the youth and reach out to the community,” Carter said. “I couldn’t do as much if I didn’t own the restaurant.”

Leaning on her experience from working as a teen, Carter employs young people at her restaurants and tries to help them prepare for adulthood and its responsibilities.

“Most of my employees are under the age of 20,” Carter said.

In addition to the restaurants, Carter remains active in local organizations and events.

She is a 2013 Leadership Shelby County graduate, a South Shelby Chamber of Commerce executive board member, a Chelsea Business Alliance board member, a South Shelby Relay for Life committee member and serves on the planning committee for Fire at the Foothills, an annual fundraising event in Chelsea for local groups and charities.

A celebration will be held Nov. 5 for all of the Women Who Shape the State honorees.

“I’m excited just to get opportunity to meet the other women,” Carter said. “Being in a group with these women is a huge honor.

“As an honoree, I’m hoping I’ll get to nominate someone (for the program). Next year, I want to bring attention to other women I know in Shelby County who are doing a lot.”

Carter is a 2002 Pelham High School graduate.

Her goals include getting involved in politics at the county level and continuing her research on energy conservation and its potential benefits for the community.

“I couldn’t be more proud of her,” Linda Riopel, Carter’s mother, said. “I think she’s an encouragement to the younger people and someone to look up to.”