Carpenter’s career beginnings are very Gen-Z. She grew up in East Greenville, PA, and at age 10, she placed third in a reality singing competition called The Next Miley Cyrus Project (Cyrus is still an inspiration, but Carpenter looks back on the experience with utter embarrassment: “I didn't even know how to brush my eyebrows upwards!”). Then, she started posting videos on YouTube after her dad built her a purple recording studio in a closet of their basement (“kind of like where Harry Potter would live if he lived in my house”). From there, she landed a few recurring roles in various TV series, but it was booking Disney Channel’s Girl Meets World in 2013, where she played the brash best friend, Mya, to Rowan Blanchard’s cheery Riley Matthews, that put her on the same career trajectory as the superstars that came before her. With a hit show and corresponding songs climbing the Radio Disney charts, Carpenter joined the long list of singing/acting celebs who got famous from Disney Channel shows like Cyrus, Selena Gomez, Zendaya, and Demi Lovato.