Professor at University of Houston and acclaimed author Brené Brown has written a handful of bestsellers over the past decade. At her university, she studies personality traits that many researchers before her have considered to be too subjective or complex. As a result of that research, she advocates for courage through vulnerability and empathy over shame.

Audiences around the world have come to embrace her lectures and writing. Some of her lecturing takes place at The University of Texas as a visiting professor. Besides lecturing students and sharing her work with the masses, she is also the holder of the Huffington Foundation’s Brené Brown Endowed Chair.

In addition, Brown hosts two podcasts and was the first researcher whose filmed lecture featured on Netflix. As a proud Texan, she shares a home with her husband, Steve, and their two children named Ellen and Charlie. The family owns a spunky Bichon Frise called Lucy.