Casandra Brené Brown (born November 18, 1965) is an American professor, lecturer, author, and podcast host. Brown is known in particular for her research on

shame Shame is an unpleasant self-conscious emotion often associated with negative self-evaluation; motivation to quit; and feelings of pain, exposure, distrust, powerlessness, and worthlessness. Definition Shame is a discrete, basic emotion, d ...

vulnerability Vulnerability refers to "the quality or state of being exposed to the possibility of being attacked or harmed, either physically or emotionally." A window of vulnerability (WOV) is a time frame within which defensive measures are diminished, com ...

, and

leadership Leadership, both as a research area and as a practical skill, encompasses the ability of an individual, group or organization to "lead", influence or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organizations. The word "leadership" often gets v ...

, and for her widely viewed

TEDx talk TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "ideas worth spreading". TED was founded by Richard Sau ...

in 2010. Since then she has written six number-one ''New York Times'' bestselling books, hosts two podcasts, and has filmed a lecture for Netflix as well as a series about her latest book, ''Atlas of the Heart'' on

HBO Max HBO Max is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in the United States on May 27, 2020, the service is built around the libraries of HBO, Warner Bros., Cartoon Netwo ...

. Brown holds the Huffington Foundation's Brené Brown Endowed Chair at the

University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the List of universities in Texas by enrollment, university in Texas ...

's Graduate College of Social Work and is a visiting professor in management at McCombs School of Business at the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

Early life and education

Brown was born on November 18, 1965, in

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, where her parents Charles Arthur Brown and Casandra Deanne Rogers had her baptized in the Episcopal Church. She is the eldest of four children. Her family then moved to

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Brown completed a

Bachelor of Social Work A bachelor is a man who is not and has never been married.Bachelors are, in Pitt & al.'s phrasing, "men who live independently, outside of their parents' home and other institutional settings, who are neither married nor cohabitating". (). Etymol ...

degree at the

in 1995, followed by a

Master of Social Work The Master of Social Work (MSW) is a master's degree in the field of social work. It is a professional degree with specializations compared to Bachelor of Social Work (BSW). MSW promotes macro-, mezzo- and micro-aspects of professional social wor ...

degree in 1996, and a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

degree in social work at the

in 2002.

Career

Research and teaching

Brown has studied the topics of courage, vulnerability, shame, empathy, and leadership, which she has used to look at human connection and how it works. She has spent her research career as a professor at her alma mater, the

's Graduate College of Social Work.

Public speaking

Brown's TEDx talk from Houston in 2010, "The Power of Vulnerability", is one of the five most viewed TED talks. Its popularity shifted her work from relative obscurity in academia into the mainstream spotlight. The talk "summarizes a decade of Brown's research on shame, framing her weightiest discoveries in self-deprecating and personal terms." Reggie Ugwu for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' said that this event gave the world "a new star of social psychology." She went on to follow this popular TED talk with another titled "Listening to Shame" in 2012. In the second talk she talks about how her life has changed since the first talk and explains the connection between shame and vulnerability, building on the thesis of her first TED talk.TED talk "Listening to shame" – Brené Brown
March 2012 She also has a less well-known talk from 2010 given at TEDxKC titled "The Price of Invulnerability." In it she explains that when numbing hard and difficult feelings, essentially feeling vulnerable, we also numb positive emotions, like joy. This led to the creation of her filmed lecture, '' Brené Brown: The Call to Courage'', which debuted on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...

in 2019. ''USA Today'' called it "a mix of a motivational speech and stand-up comedy special." Brown discusses how and why to choose courage over comfort, equating being brave to being vulnerable. According to her research, doing this opens people to love, joy, and belonging by allowing them to better know themselves and more deeply connect with other people. Brown regularly works as a public speaker at private events and businesses, such as at

Alain de Botton Alain de Botton (; born 20 December 1969) is a Swiss-born British author and philosopher. His books discuss various contemporary subjects and themes, emphasizing philosophy's relevance to everyday life. He published ''Essays in Love'' (1993), ...

School of Life ''School of Life'' is a 2005 made-for-television comedy-drama film starring Ryan Reynolds about a teacher who moves to a town and shakes the old school ways up a bit. Plot At Fallbrook Central School, the annual student-elected Teacher of the ...

and at

Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...

and

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

Writing

She is, as of 2021, the author of six number-one ''New York Times'' bestsellers: ''The Gifts of Imperfection'', ''

Daring Greatly ''Daring Greatly'' is a 2012 self-help book written by Brené Brown. It is a New York Times bestseller and covers topics of vulnerability and shame. Synopsis The title of the book is taken from the 1910 speech Citizenship in a Republic by Theod ...

'', ''Rising Strong'', ''Braving the Wilderness'', ''Dare to Lead'', and ''

Atlas of the Heart ''Atlas of the Heart'' is a 2021 non-fiction book written by Brené Brown. The book describes human emotions and experiences and the language used to understand them. It is a ''USA Today'' bestseller and was developed into a five-episode series f ...

''. She discussed ''Daring Greatly'' with Oprah Winfrey on '' Super Soul Sunday'' in March 2013. The book's title comes from a 1910

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

speech, " Citizenship in a Republic", given at the Sorbonne. Her most recent work, ''Atlas of the Heart'', was published in November 2021, with the goal of helping readers expand their emotional vocabulary—the language they have to communicate their feelings. Brown wrote a chapter of advice in

Tim Ferriss Timothy Ferriss (born July 20, 1977) is an American entrepreneur, investor, author, podcaster, and lifestyle guru. He became well-known through his ''4-Hour'' self-help book series—including ''The 4-Hour Work Week'', ''The 4-Hour Body'', and ' ...

' book '' Tools of Titans''. With

Tarana Burke Tarana Burke (born September 12, 1973) is an American activist from The Bronx, New York, who started the MeToo movement. In 2006, Burke began using MeToo to help other women with similar experiences to stand up for themselves. Over a decade late ...

, she co-created ''You Are Your Best Thing: Vulnerability, Shame Resilience, and the Black Experience'', an anthology of essays by Black individuals discussing the trauma of white supremacy as well as the experiences of Black love and Black life.

Podcasting

In 2020, Brown began hosting the ''Unlocking Us'' and ''Dare to Lead'' podcasts. ''Unlocking Us'' alternates between interviews with guests and solo episodes where Brown talks alone, directly to listeners. In solo episodes, she tells stories from her life, explains learnings from her research, and supplements it with summaries of other related social science work. Interview guests have included grief expert David Kessler, singer

Alicia Keys Alicia Augello Cook (born January 25, 1981), known professionally as Alicia Keys, is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. A classically trained pianist, Keys started composing songs when she was 12 and was signed at 15 years old by Colu ...

, writer Glennon Doyle, and activist Tarana Burke who started the

Me Too movement #MeToo is a social movement against sexual abuse, sexual harassment, and rape culture, in which people publicize their experiences of sexual abuse or sexual harassment. The phrase "Me Too" was initially used in this context on social media ...

. In 2022, Brown's interview with Debbie Millman was featured on the ''

Storybound ''Storybound'' is a podcast created, produced, and hosted by Jude Brewer, with original music composed for each episode. The show is a collaboration between ''Lit Hub'' and The Podglomerate podcast network, featuring household names and Pulitze ...

'' season 5 premiere.

Other work

Brown is CEO of "The Daring Way", a professional training and certification program on the topics of vulnerability, courage, shame, and empathy. She appeared as herself in the movie ''Wine Country''. Her five-part docuseries, ''Brené Brown: Atlas of the Heart'', was released on HBO Max in 2022.

Personal life

Brown and her husband, Dr. Steve Alley, have two children. The family lives in Houston, Texas. Though she was baptized in the Episcopal Church, her family raised her as a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

. She later left the Catholic Church and returned to the Episcopal community with her husband and children two decades later. During her time in higher education, Brown has described addiction to a combination of alcohol, smoking, emotional eating and an addiction to control. Brown stopped drinking and smoking on May 12, 1996, one day after her master's program graduation. She has been sober since then and often talks about the positive impact of that on her life.

Selected works

* "Feminist Standpoint Theory" and "Shame Resilience Theory." In S. P. Robbins, P. Chatterjee & E. R. Canda (Eds.), ''Contemporary human behavior theory: A Critical Perspective for Social Work''. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. 560 pp. Published 2007. * ''I Thought It Was Just Me (But It Isn't): Telling the Truth About Perfectionism, Inadequacy and Power''. Avery. 336 pp. (2007) * ''Connections: A 12-Session Psychoeducational Shame-Resilience Curriculum''. Center City, MN: Hazelden. (2009) * ''The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are''. Center City, MN: Hazelden. 160 pp. (2010) * '' Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent and Lead''. New York City: Gotham. 320 pp. (2012) * ''Rising Strong: The Reckoning, the Rumble, the Revolution''.

Spiegel & Grau Spiegel & Grau was originally a publishing imprint of Penguin Random House founded by Celina Spiegel and Julie Grau in 2005. On January 25, 2019, Penguin Random House announced that the imprint was being shut down and the two founders were l ...

, now Random House. 352 pp. (2015) * ''Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone.'' Random House. 208 pp. (2017) * ''Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts.'' Random House. 320 pp. (2018) * ''The Gifts of Imperfection'' (10th Anniversary Edition). 256 pp. (2020) * ''

.'' Random House. 336pp. (2021)

Honors and awards

In 2009 ''Houston Woman Magazine'' voted Brown one of the city's most influential women.Houston's 50 Most Influential Women for 2009
''Houston Women's Magazine'' She has also received teaching awards, including the Graduate College of Social Work's Outstanding Faculty Award. In 2016 the Huffington Foundation pledged $2 million over four years to endow a research chair in her name at the Graduate College of Social Work, where she guides the training of social work students in

grounded theory Grounded theory is a systematic methodology that has been largely applied to qualitative research conducted by social scientists. The methodology involves the construction of hypotheses and theories through the collecting and analysis of data. Gr ...

methodology and in her research into vulnerability, courage, shame, and empathy. In 2022, her book

won the

Goodreads Choice award The Goodreads Choice Awards is a yearly award program, first launched on Goodreads in 2009. Winners are determined by users voting on books that Goodreads has nominated or books of their choosing, released in the given year. Most books that Good ...

for Best Nonfiction.

References

External links

*
Brené Brown's TED Talk on The Power of Vulnerability.
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Brene 1965 births 21st-century American Episcopalians 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American women writers Academics from Houston American motivational writers American women non-fiction writers Anglican scholars Christians from Texas Living people People from Harris County, Texas University of Houston alumni University of Houston faculty University of Texas at Austin School of Social Work alumni Writers from San Antonio Women motivational writers American women academics