Brené Brown

Brené Brown
Brown at the Texas Conference for Women (2012)
Born	Casandra Brené Brown (1965-11-18) November 18, 1965 San Antonio, Texas, U.S.
Occupation	Storyteller Research Professor Author Public Speaker Licensed Master Social Worker
Language	English
Nationality	American
Education	Doctor of Philosophy in Social Work Master of Social Work Bachelor of Social Work
Alma mater	University of Houston University of Texas at Austin
Period	2004–current
Subject	Social work
Spouse	Steve Alley (m. 1994)
Children	2
Website
www.brenebrown.com www.courageworks.com www.braveleadersinc.com

Casandra Brené Brown (born November 18, 1965) is an American scholar, author, and public speaker, who is currently a research professor at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work.^[1] Over the last fifteen years she has been involved in research on a range of topics, including vulnerability, courage, shame, and empathy.^[2] She is the author of three #1 New York Times bestsellers: The Gifts of Imperfection (2010), Daring Greatly (2012), and Rising Strong (2015). She and her work have been featured on PBS,^[3] NPR,^[4] TED,^[5] and CNN.^[6]

Early life and education

Casandra Brené Brown was born in San Antonio, Texas, the daughter of Charles Arthur Brown and Casandra Deanne Rogers,^[7] while she spent a formative period in New Orleans, Louisiana.^[8] Brown was baptized in the Episcopal church and then later brought up Catholic.^[9] She left the church for two decades, and later returned to it with her husband and children. She completed her Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) at the University of Texas at Austin in 1995, followed by a Master of Social Work (MSW) in 1996 and Ph.D. from the Graduate College of Social Work at the University of Houston in 2002.^[1]

Career

Brown began her career as a research professor at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work.^[10] Her research focuses on authentic leadership and wholeheartedness in families, schools, and organizations. She presented a 2012 TED talk and two 2010 TEDx talks.^{[11][12][13][14][15][16]}

Brown is the author of I Thought It Was Just Me (but it isn’t): Telling the Truth About Perfectionism, Inadequacy, and Power (Penguin/Gotham, 2007), The Gifts of Imperfection: Letting Go of Who We Think We Should Be and Embracing Who We Are (Hazelden, 2010), Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brené Brown (Gotham, 2012), and Rising Strong: The Reckoning. The Rumble. The Revolution. (Spiegel & Grau, 2015). Her articles have appeared in many national newspapers.^[17]

In March 2013, she appeared on Super Soul Sunday talking with Oprah Winfrey about her new book, Daring Greatly.^[18] The title of the book comes from Theodore Roosevelt’s speech “Citizenship in a Republic”, which is also referred as "The Man in the Arena" speech, given at the Sorbonne in Paris, France, on April 23, 1910.^[19]

Brown has also been interviewed by the author of Eat Pray Love, Elizabeth Gilbert, for Gilbert's Magic Lessons podcast, where she poses the question: "What's worth doing, even if you fail?".

Brown is the founder and CEO of both COURAGEworks – an online learning platform that offers classes for individuals and families on braver living and loving, and Brave Leaders Inc. – a platform that brings her latest research on leadership development and culture change to teams, leaders, entrepreneurs, change makers, and culture shifters.^[2] Brown is also the CEO for The Daring Way, a training and certification program for helping professionals who want to facilitate her work on vulnerability, courage, shame, and empathy.^[20]

Honors and awards

Houston Woman Magazine voted Brown one of Houston's most influential women of 2009.^[21] Her 2010 TED Talk is one of the most watched talks on the Ted.com website.^[22] She has received numerous teaching awards including the Graduate College of Social Work's Outstanding Faculty Award.^[23]

In 2016, the Huffington Foundation honored Brown by pledging $2 million over four years to fund the Brené Brown Endowed Chair in the Graduate College of Social Work at the University of Houston. This will provide resources to expand Brown's research, as a greater number of social work students pursuing training in grounded theory methodology will be trained in her research on vulnerability, courage, shame, and empathy.^[24]

Published works

• Brown, B. (2015): Rising Strong: The Reckoning, The Rumble, The Revolution.
• Brown, B. (2012): Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead. New York City, NY: Gotham
• Brown, B. (2010): The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are. Center City, MN: Hazelden.^[17]
• Brown, B. (2009): Connections: A 12-Session Psychoeducational Shame-Resilience Curriculum. Center City, MN: Hazelden.^[17]
• Brown, B. (2007): I Thought It Was Just Me (but it isn't): Telling the Truth About Perfectionism, Inadequacy, and Power. New York:Penguin/Gotham.^[25]
• Brown, B. (2007): Feminist Standpoint Theory. In S.P.Robbins, P.Chatterjee & E.R.Canda (Eds.), Contemporary human behavior theory: A critical perspective for social work (Rev. ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.^[25]
• Brown, B. (2007): Shame Resilience Theory. In S.P.Robbins, P.Chatterjee & E.R.Canda (Eds.), Contemporary human behavior theory: A critical perspective for social work (Rev. ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.^[25]

Recorded talks

• TEDxHouston 2010: "The Power of Vulnerability", June 2010
• TEDxKC 2010: "The Price of Invulnerability", August 2010
• TED2012: "Listening to Shame", March 2012
• Speaker, The UP Experience, Unique Perspectives from Unique People (2009)
• "The Power of Vulnerability" — Brown's talk at the Royal Society of Arts (2013)

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Brené Brown

• Brené Brown biography on her official website
• Brené Brown blog
• "Brené Brown, Faculty Profile". University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work. 
• Brown at the “You Are the Pride” Campaign, University of Houston
• Living Smart with Patricia Gras
• Brené Brown at TED