Charmin A. Bates is the event planner for the Office of the Chancellor at Vanderbilt University. She manages all special events and programs for the chancellor including the Chancellor’s Lecture Series (CLS), which connects the university and Nashville community with intellectuals shaping our world.
Charmin’s career in Nashville began in 2014 when she left her “dream job” as a Retail Buyer at Macy’s New York to serve as an Americorps Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) through the Corporation for National and Community Service. As an advocate for young professionals and community engagement, she commits her volunteer time fighting to end poverty and mentoring youth. She has developed and executed three 10-week summer camp programs designed to bring youth and families out of poverty for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Middle Tennessee and the Brentwood Family YMCA.
Charmin is also the founder and executive director of Creative Girls Rock® (CGR), a nonprofit organization based in Nashville, TN created to educate, inspire, and empower women to utilize their creative talent for personal and professional development. The CGR Master Class is CGR core program offered to young girls and women, ages 7 and up, interested in learning how to master their inner creativity: to make or bring something new into existence or reinvent something in a new form.
The CGR Master Class is also used as a therapeutic outlet for participants to help with overall work-life balance. Creative expression provides a sense of fulfillment and restorative health, and we have seen through our classes that young girls and women are seeking these types of artistic outlets to help with mental health and wellness.
Charmin is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated and the overseer of the Young Adult Ministry at Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Nashville, TN. On her free time, she loves to spend time with family and friends, listen to music, and of course, arts and crafts!
