Ellen Rucker Sellers is the ex-wife of Vince Carter. Vince is a former professional basketball player. Ellen is the co-founder and CEO of Rucker Roots.
She founded the company with her sister, Rucker Jamison. She used to practice chiropractic medicine.
She completed her high school at Lancaster High School, which lies in Lancaster, South Carolina.
She graduated from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is currently living with her husband and three children in Charlotte, North Carolina.
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How did she establish her business?
Ellen was living with her daughter after her divorce and Ione, her sister, came to live with her with her three younger children.
Ellen was working as a Chiropractor at the time and Ione had a degree in child development education.
During an interview, the sisters shared that the idea of Rucker Roots came as a blessing from their daughters.
After Ione moved in with them, Ellen's daughter Kai and Ione's daughter Katherine quickly became best friends and sisters.
Then Ellen and Ione would often spend a lot of time in the kitchen creating hair concoctions from scratch to style their daughters' hair just like their mother did with them.
One day, while their moms were doing their hair, Kai and Katherine said, you all need to do this as a business.
Kai also suggested that if Ellen left her job, she might have more time with her.
Ellen said she took her daughter's advice into consideration and stepped out on faith and started the business.
Her mother is the inspiration behind her business
She was born to her father, Douglas Rucker, a dentist, and mother, Ruby Rucker in Lancaster, South Carolina. She is blessed with seven siblings.
Her father was passionate about farming and gardening.
She said her father used to bring the produce home and her mother used to use the fresh ingredients to create hair products for her children's hair.
This became a huge inspiration for the sisters in their accomplishments today.
Most of their products stem from vegetables like carrots, ginger roots, turnip roots, and many others.
She and her sister said they followed their mother's lead.
They added while everyone was getting perms or relaxers, their mother insisted they embrace their natural hair.
Her sister said their mother was way before the natural hair trend and that she was the trendsetter.
They also wanted to do the same for their daughters. They wanted them to love their natural hair just as their mother taught them.
Her first marriage ended in divorce
Ellen Rucker Sellers was previously married to Vince Carter. They were high school sweethearts.
They exchanged wedding vows in July 2004. After a year, they welcomed their first child, a daughter on June 1, 2005, and named her Kai Michelle Carter.
Sadly their marriage could not work and they got divorced in 2006.
Found love again
Ellen moved on after her divorce from Vince. She is currently happily married to Bakari Sellers. Bakari is an attorney, politician, and political commentator.
Ellen and Bakari first met in August 2008.
She revealed through an Instagram post on February 14, 2024, that their first weekend date was on August 16, 2008.
She posted a picture of her taken on that date with the caption,
I prayed for this man and the Lord sure delivered! Happy Valentine’s Day @bakarisellers…I am so grateful that I get to do life with you! I love you! Photo: August 16, 2008, our first weekend of dating…Y’all, we were so hot & heavy, we couldn’t see straight, lol!
They dated for seven years before tying the knot on August 29, 2015.
On August 30, 2023, she posted her wedding pictures on her Instagram on their 8th wedding anniversary with the caption,
You make everything better @bakarisellers … thank you for walking this journey with me. We have been through so much but our love & faith have always stayed strong! You wake up everyday and choose to love me (with my craziness and all, lol) and I love you right back! Happy Anniversary to the love of my life, my rock, & my best friend @bakarisellers … I love you endlessly!
She almost died while giving birth to her twins
Ellen and Bakari welcomed their twins, a boy and a girl, on July 1, 2019, and named them Sadie Sellers and Stokely Sellers.
During an interview, Ellen revealed that they had been trying to get pregnant for three years but were not successful. So they tried to conceive through IVF.
She revealed her journey during an interview and said she didn’t get pregnant on her first attempt as she didn’t have any eggs even after going through a full cycle of stimulation and even after taking so many medications.
She said as she didn’t like her first doctor, she switched doctors because she wanted doctors who really cared about her and didn’t make her feel like she was just a number.
She was successful in getting pregnant on the second attempt and when she found out she was having twins, she was like, "Okay, I don’t care. I am just going to switch back to them."
She said she didn’t have any complications during her entire pregnancy and the babies were growing right on schedule.
However, when she delivered the babies, she almost died.
She said she gave birth to her babies around 5:28, and 5:32, and then her family came to visit and they enjoyed the babies for a couple of hours.
After that everybody left and around 11 pm, she was nursing the babies with the lactation nurse helping her, she turned to her husband and told him she was feeling hot.
This was the last thing she remembers and then she was out.
She revealed through an Instagram post that she had almost died as she lost 75% of her blood supply as she hemorrhaged several hours after giving birth.
She was incubated and placed in the ICU for 36 hours.
She took to Instagram to show her gratitude to her three black female doctors, Dr. Octavia Cannon, Dr. Mala Freeman, Dr. Sophia Paige, and her husband for saving her life.
