Brené Brown, PhD, is a research professor at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work. She has spent the past 10 years studying vulnerability, courage, authenticity, and shame. Brené spent the first five years of her decade-long study focusing on shame and empathy, and is now using that work to explore a concept that she calls Wholeheartedness. Brown holds bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees in social work and is a licensed social worker. She teaches graduate courses on women’s issues, shame and empathy, advocacy-based research, and global justice. She has won numerous teaching awards, including the college’s Outstanding Faculty Award. Her groundbreaking work on vulnerability, shame, courage, and authenticity has been featured on PBS, NPR, and CNN, and was the subject of two 2010 TEDx talks. Brené Brown is the author of The Gifts of Imperfection: Letting Go of Who We Think We Should Be and Embracing Who We and I Thought It Was Just Me (But It Isn’t): Telling the Truth About Perfectionism, Inadequacy, and Power. She is also the author of Connections, a psychoeducational shame resilience curriculum that is being facilitated across the nation by mental health and addiction professionals. Her current research focuses on authentic leadership and wholeheartedness in families, schools, and organizations. |
