Robin’s campaign for Commissioner of Labor grew out of a commitment to improve the Department of Labor and ensure North Carolina fulfills its obligation to protect the health and safety of every worker.  Robin has never run for office before, yet was compelled to by a strong desire to protect working families.

Robin decided to run for Commissioner of Labor after years of frustration caused by the incumbent’s failure to enforce the law.  Recently, she declared that ‘enough is enough’ and became determined to fix the problems she continues to see.  Since then, her campaign has been quickly moving forward, and focusing on correcting the failures of the past 7 years.

Robin grew up on her family’s farm.  She worked all throughout her college years, including a summer at the local pickle plant – packing cucumbers on a factory production line.  While an undergrad in college, she interned with Congressman John Conyers, an experience that inspired her interest in civil rights.  After school, Robin moved with her family to the Raleigh area, and immediately fell in love with North Carolina.  Twenty years later, she can’t imagine living anywhere else.

Having worked for seven years after college, Robin made a decision to fulfill her life-long dream to go to law school.  As her son turned one-year-old, Robin entered law school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  After graduating, she clerked with the Honorable Louis B. Meyer, the Senior Justice of the Supreme Court of North Carolina. 

Following her clerkship, Robin entered into private practice and in 1996 she joined the Raleigh law firm of Nicholls & Crampton, P.A. as a partner, concentrating in employment law. Her areas of legal expertise include race, gender, age and disability discrimination; sexual harassment; wrongful termination and retaliatory discharge; wage and hour violations; and contract disputes.  In 2007, Robin was recognized by her peers as one of the best in her field and was named as a member of the Legal Elite, Business North Carolina.

For the past 18 years, Robin has been a labor and employment attorney working hard to represent North Carolinians. She has worked tirelessly to represent working families and has been an advocate for companies that play by the rules. 

In addition to her law practice, Robin currently serves as Chair of the State Personnel Commission.  Appointed by Senator Marc Basnight in 1999, she became the first female Chair in 2003 when named by Governor Mike Easley.  Additionally, she was invited to act as guest lecturer for the MBA program at Meredith College.