Valerie Brown is an author, facilitator and executive coach specializing in leadership development and mindfulness practices with a focus on diversity, social equity and inclusion. She is an ordained Buddhist-Quaker Dharma teacher in the lineage of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh and the Plum Village tradition.

A former lawyer and lobbyist, Valerie transformed her high-pressure, twenty-year career into serving leaders and nonprofits to create trustworthy, authentic, compassionate and connected workspaces.

Her new book is Hope Leans Forward: Braving Your Way toward Simplicity, Awakening and Peace (Broadleaf, 2022).

She is the Founder and Chief Mindfulness Officer of Lead Smart Coaching, supporting leaders to apply and integrate leadership and mindfulness for greater resilience, clarity, and creativity, and is a co-director of Georgetown’s Institute for Transformational Leadership.

Valerie leads an annual pilgrimage to El Camino de Santiago, Spain to celebrate the power of sacred place and is a certified Kundalini yoga teacher, engaging leaders to embody somatic wisdom and creativity.