Amanda Cates is the Head of Marketing and Digital Strategy at Maverick Nashville, overseeing all new business development, marketing initiatives, digital streaming partner relationships, artist online, e-commerce, mobile, social, and fan engagement for the company's roster of high-profile country music clients. A North Carolina native, Cates attended Appalachian State University where she earned a degree in Music Industry Studies majoring in Music Business with minors in Business and Computer Information Systems. She began her career eighteen years ago in Raleigh, NC for an artist management firm, then made her way to a Seattle based, venture-funded mobile entertainment startup before heading to Nashville as a digital marketing consultant in artist management, most recently landing at Maverick management where she has been since 2009. She is a member of the Academy of Country Music, the Country Music Association, and the Recording Academy, a board member for Nashville Music Equality, a co-founder of the Digital Divas Nashville networking organization, 2015’s Platinum Mentor Award recipient for the Nashville Entrepreneur Center’s Project Music accelerator program, an honoree of 2016’s Music Row Magazine’s Rising Women on the Row award, a member of Leadership Music’s Class of 2017, Billboard’s 40 Under 40 list of 2018 and the Nashville Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 list of 2019.