A 1971 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Virginia Carson came back to head the Campus Y after 25 years as a corporate lawyer and business owner. A student leader of the Campus Y during the turbulent years of civil rights, Vietnam War protests, and early feminist issues, Ms. Carson went on to law school at Columbia University. She practiced communications and corporate finance law in Washington, D. C. from 1974 until 1989, finishing her work in the Washington office of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. After law practice, she organized Capital Kids' Radio Company to purchase and operate radio stations in Washington and Baltimore. The company inaugurated a music-based format for children and parents, combining news and features written for children with music that the family could enjoy together. The Radio Zone format won national and local awards for the quality of its programming.

Along with operating the radio stations, Ms. Carson worked as an arbitrator, mediator and trainer of arbitrators and mediators for American Arbitration Association and the National Association of Securities Dealers. She also teaches negotiations skills and consults on negotiation problems as occasion requires. In Washington, Ms. Carson served on the Board of Directors for Healthy Babies Project, a private non-profit organization providing counseling and access to pre-natal care for disadvantaged and homeless pregnant women. Healthy Babies Project joined with two other organizations to build and operate the DC Developing Families Center, a community-based facility for pre-natal care, delivery and well-baby care, counseling and child care.