American · b. 1965
Brené Brown is an American research professor at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work, where she has studied shame, vulnerability, courage, and empathy for over two decades. She holds a PhD in social work and built her research on grounded theory, interviewing thousands of people. Her 2010 TEDxHouston talk, "The Power of Vulnerability," became one of the most viewed TED talks ever. She has written several New York Times bestsellers, including The Gifts of Imperfection, Daring Greatly, Rising Strong, Braving the Wilderness, and Dare to Lead. She also hosts the podcasts Unlocking Us and Dare to Lead, and she has appeared in a Netflix special, The Call to Courage. Her work reaches beyond academia into workplaces, schools, and families, where her terms such as "shame resilience" and "armored leadership" are widely used. She is a leading public voice on how people handle fear and connection.