Carrie James Is the Founder of Business Relationship Alliance & Mother of Sean Murray's Kids
While launching her second business, Carrie James also became Sean Murray's wife toward the end of 2015. They have two teenage kids who join them on their outings around LA and sometimes even work.
Carrie James and Sean Murray's love story revolves around holidays; they met during Halloween and married over Thanksgiving. Their love for decorating during the spooky holiday has landed them a feature in a magazine.
The couple had an intimate wedding of around 45 guests marked for the dancing at the after-party and a hilarious but scary run-in with a Hollywood A-lister. The mom of two is a business owner who has spent her whole career empowering and advocating for women.
Carrie James Was a Court Advocate for Domestic Violence Victims
After five years of studying, James became her family's first college graduate in 1999 with her bachelor's in social work, focused on domestic violence, from San Francisco State University.
As a court advocate, she helped victims navigate the judicial system. In 2002, she enrolled in Antioch University's master's program, gaining her degree in 2004 with a focus on social justice.
Afterward, she worked in the Los Angeles School System (LAUSD) for 15 years, first as a teacher and eventually becoming a principal at a public charter school.
James Became the First Person in Her Family to Own a Business
The mom of two achieved another first in her family: starting a business. She left LAUSD to become the founder of the Prestique Academy of Innovation and Technology in August 2012.
The 'solopreneur' soon realized that while she was well versed in education, her business skills needed to sharpen up hastily. Through self-study and attending networking events, she saw that there was a large group not being represented in the business community -- women.
With the few women she met at the networking sessions, she hosted a dinner party where they could discuss their specific needs and challenges as women in business and mothers. The parties of six soon morphed into 20 people taking a seat at the table.
James professionalized the concept with the November 2015 launch of BRA -- Business Relationship Alliance, a membership program with education and business services, including collaborative opportunities.
The couple wanted to elope, and their mothers "put the heat on" them to have a wedding...
Though her academy closed down in May 2015, the founder celebrated BRA's seventh birthday in 2022 by raising the annual membership fee because, as she said, "they know their worth, and know that this value the community gives is worth so much."
Actor Sean Murray and Carrie James attend The Hyde Away during Coachella on April 15, 2017 in Thermal, California. | Source: Getty Images
The Funny Reason Sean Murray Proposed to Carrie James with a Ring 1-and-a-Half Sizes Too Big
Dressed as a devil, James met Murray at a mutual friend's Halloween party; he was sitting alone in a corner in a doctor's costume. She mused on a podcast that they had been dating for around two years and living together in June 2015 when she brought up the subject of their future.
By August, the actor clarified his intentions by proposing with a delicate diamond ring. It was not the most romantic setting; she had just brushed her teeth, and the band was too big. The "Hocus Pocus" star thought that ring and shoe sizes correlated.
The 8.5-sized ring could not even fit on her thumb, so the teacher taped the band to hold her size seven finger until they could resize it. Neither is wearing their original bands; hers was stolen and replaced with an identical ring, and his got lost after six months in the wardrobe department at work.
The couple wanted to elope, and their mothers "put the heat on" them to have a wedding, a decision James is now happy they made. The event came together in three months at the Lakeside Golf Club in Burbank, California.
The bride had been to many wedding parties before and knew exactly what she wanted for her big day: no wedding party, and the ceremony and party taking place at the same venue. The country club provided everything they needed, and their early Christmas décor and lighting doubled beautifully for the wedding.
The ceremony was performed outside on a windy Thanksgiving weekend, November 20, 2015. The consultant says that almost getting run over by Jack Nicholson in a golf cart, falling on her butt on the dance floor, and saying "I do" were some of her favorite moments of the big day.
Carrie James Is a Mother to 2 Kids
The best thing that happened in James' life since marrying Sean Murray is having their daughter Cay Ryan Murray, born in May 2007, and son, River Murray, in April 2010.
Preferenced with a stuck-out-tongue-and-winking-eye-emoji in a caption of her husband and daughter at a My Chemical Romance concert in October 2022, the mom of two said:
"I'll take musicals, you take concerts"
Sean Murray and Cay Ryan Murray on the set of NCIS on, March 17, 2022. | Source: Getty Images
The pair also head banged at a System of a Down gig earlier that year. Cay had a guest starring role opposite her dad as Teagan Fields in an episode on the 19th season of "NCIS" titled "The Brat Pack."
In the photo stills of the episode aired a day before Cay turned 15, the teenager looks very relaxed on set next to Sean, who is brimming with pride.
James had her mother-daughter time in July 2022, attending a Broadway production of "Company" with Cay, followed by cake and lively sing-a-long at a piano bar. The mom of two admitted that she had to sneak in her underage daughter at the bar.
In September of the same year, she took her daughter and a friend to see Alanis Morissette's jukebox musical "Jagged Little Pill" at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre.