Tamara Bates has worked as a financial advisor for UBS and Raymond James and obtained extensive training in financial planning. She also spent much of her career in nonprofit fundraising and philanthropy, as VP of Strategy and Programs for Innovate+Educate, a Program Officer at the Schott Foundation for Public Education and currently the Development Director for Searchlight NM, a nonprofit journalism organization.

In 2020, Tamara founded the program, the dots between, a financial coaching program for artists who are motivated to nurture their relationship with money, and establish the structures that will support their long term fiscal growth.

She holds a BA from the College of Santa Fe and an MA in Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning and Child Development from Tufts University. She is a former Arts Commissioner for the City of Santa Fe and a board member of Creative Capital.