Biography
Charles Belk is the Founder and Executive Director of Fitting The Description. He is also a Producer and President of I Will Make You A Star Productions, a Los Angeles based, social media / digital marketing and production company.
He became the face of international media coverage surrounding his August 2014 wrongful arrest by a local law enforcement agency, where he was photographed, fingerprinted, not allowed a phone call, denied immediate access to his attorney, and held under a $100,000 bail for felony armed bank robbery, all because he was mistakenly identify for fitting the description of the wrong, tall, bald, Black man.
Charles Belk has been able to turn the time he spent handcuffed on a curb, into becoming M.A.D. (Making A Difference) - spearheading a national effort to institute new local and statewide law enforcement process improvements and advocating for legislative changes on both the state and federal levels. He has successfully enlisted twenty-one state legislators to introduce his #AutoErase legislation (aka the "Belk Bill") in their respective states. The Bill has been signed into law by the Governors of North Carolina, Illinois, Colorado, Rhode Island, Kansas and Missouri.
The #AutoErase legislation puts the responsibility of a wrongful arrest record back on the arresting agency to automatically erase those arrest records due to mistaken identity or identity theft. #AutoErase alleviates the undue burden (both time and costs) that is placed on an innocent individual. The perils of such an arrest record can affect a person for years to come.
He launched Fitting The Description, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, to help build awareness of the countless number of individuals who are wrongfully detained and/or arrested each day because they "fit the description." The organization also provides educational services to those most targeted, and cultural sensitivity training law enforcement.
Charles Belk has served as Vice President of Marketing for a mobile and internet social media application company, Vice President of Interactive Promotions for a marketing agency, Deputy Director of Olympic Village Operations for the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, ran Community Affairs for the Atlanta Hawks NBA basketball franchise, and was a Cost Engineering and Quality Engineering Manger at IBM-Research Triangle Park. Charles Belk did his undergraduate studies in Electrical Engineering at the University of Southern California, graduate studies in Business at Indiana University, and Executive Leadership at Harvard Business School.
Diverse in his endeavors, Charles Belk ventured further into the entertainment industry by directing and producing two spec television comedy pilots for consideration by Comedy Central. His first feature film as a producer ("The Greatest Song") was released on DVD in August, 2009. With his second feature film ("Douglass U"), he has strongly set his sights on positively impacting the film and television industry.
A prolific speaker, Charles Belk has lead more than 40 seminars and workshops on such topics as "Writing an effective resume," "Winning Interviewing Skills," "Networking: How to work a room," and "The African American Male: Mentoring Today's Black Youth." In addition to serving as the keynote speaker for the USC Center for Engineering Diversity's Awards Banquet, Charles frequently serves as the host or as a panelist for events in and around Los Angeles - including, moderator for several movie and television preview screening q&a sessions for the NAACP Hollywood Bureau ("I Will Follow", "Just Right", "Pariah", "Our Family Wedding", ABC's "Scandal"), host of the USC Black Alumni Association (BAA) Homecoming Festivities, a panelist for the San Diego Film Festival's "How to Build Your Brand", the Hollywood Black Film Festival's "Positioning Your Film for Success," the Downtown Film Festival - Los Angeles' "Low Cost Ways for Marketing Your Indie Film," the Pan African Film Festival's "Successful Festival Strategies: How to Get the Most Out of a Film Festival," and a panelist for the USC Annenberg School of Communications' Industry Night.
Committed to community service, Charles has served on the Board of Directors for the inaugural, Downtown Film Festival - Los Angeles, the University of Southern California BAA, the Silverlake Film Festival Board of Directors, and the Chaka Khan Foundation "I Believe" Gala Committee. While in Atlanta, he served on the boards of the Hughes Spaulding Childrens Hospital, House of Love for the Homeless, Georgia CASA, Jomandi Theater, United Way of Greater Atlanta Volunteer Initiate Program, Cobb County Transit Advisory. Prior to that, the Durham City / County Zoning Commission, and the Durham Country Transportation Commission. He has also served as an Adjunct Professor at Pierce College in Woodland Hills, CA, and at AMDA College and Conservatory of the Performing Arts in Hollywood, CA.
