Dr. Brené Brown

Dr. Brené Brown

Dr. Brené Brown is a writer and research professor at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work. Her groundbreaking research on vulnerability, courage, and shame has been featured on PBS, NPR, CNN, and was the topic of two 2010 TEDx talks. Brown spent the first five years of her decade-long study focusing on the role that shame plays in our lives, and is now using that work to explore a concept that she calls Wholeheartedness. She poses the questions: How do we learn to embrace our vulnerabilities and imperfections so that we can engage in our lives from a place of authenticity and worthiness? How do we cultivate the courage that we need to recognize that we are enough – that we are worthy of love, belonging, and joy? Brown has won numerous teaching awards, including the College’s Outstanding Faculty Award. She is the author of “The Gifts of Imperfection: Letting Go of Who We Think We Should Be and Embracing Who We Are” (Hazelden, 2010) and “I Thought It Was Just Me (but it isn’t): Telling the Truth About Perfectionism, Inadequacy, and Power” (Penguin/Gotham, 2007).