In 1990, Judge Clarease Rankin Yates was the first African-American woman to be appointed to the United States Immigration. Yates is the founder/director of Let the Fashions Begin-Men of Style. This 501(c) (3) corporation has raised funds for Sickle Cell Research for the past 19 years. The funds raised from this event have been instrumental in making Texas Children’s Hospital’s Research Center become a reality.
Yates has served on the Board of the Houston Holocaust Museum, the Houston Chapter of the NAACP and the Houston Symphony. She also served on the Houston Community College Foundation Board, The Foundation for Teen Health Board at Baylor College of Medicine and has been recognized as a “Woman on the Move” by the Houston Chronicle and Channel 11. She also serves on the International Committee of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo and was a captain of the Black Heritage Committee of the HLSR. She was recognized as a Woman of Distinction 2012 by the Crohn’s and Colitis Association, Greater Houston Women’s Chamber of Commerce Breakthrough Women’s Award and received the Onyx Style Magazine & Sisters Network Guild Distinctive Style Award in 2007. She also received the Easter Seals Hats off to Mothers Award in 2018 and the 2017 Houston Woman Magazine Trail Blazer Award.
She is a lifetime member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and served as an officer of the Houston Chapter of the Links, Inc. Judge Yates is a member of Fort Bend Church and was a founding board member of the Windsor Village United Methodist Church’s Credit Union.
Yates received her Bachelor of Arts degree and Juris Doctorate from Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She served as an adjunct professor of law at the Thurgood Marshall School of Law at Texas Southern University for eight years and is a member of Class XIV Leadership Houston. She loves working with teenagers and in 2005 published a book on the ABCs of Common Courtesy entitled “Indestructible Beginnings.” The book is used in conjunction with her workbook for her Etiquette classes.
Yates was certified as a Fashion Image Consultant by the Houston Community College System. She is also certified as an Etiquette Trainer for Teens and a Business Etiquette and International Protocol Consultant through Washington School of Protocol.
She is married to Cary Yates. Together they provide many hours of service to the community. They share five wonderful children and ten grandchildren.
Judge Clarease Rankin Yates
Founder, Indestructible Beginnings
6140 Highway 6 Suite 124
Missouri City, TX 77459
713-703-6042
www.indestructiblebeginnings.com
