Sharon Y. Brown, PCC, MS

Collaborate Change Owner and Founder

Stories connect us so I want to share a bit of mine with you. You can find my professional bio here.

Honoring ancestors is important to me so I begin with my parents. I am the oldest of two children born to loving, hard working parents, Esther and David, who deeply valued Christianity and the higher education they were not able to have. They believed higher education would help me and my brother grow beyond our working-class background, and they sacrificed to provide us with the education they believed would help us succeed. Extended family, church, and community were important parts of my upbringing in New Jersey, USA (where I still live), as were integrity, honesty and caring for others. I’m grateful for my parents, family and friend network, and to each of my ancestors. Their love, resilience and resourcefulness made my path possible. 

I identify as Black/African-American, cis-gender, female (she, her, hers pronouns), partner, mother, Mima, life coach, trainer, and people/plant/animal lover. I am warm, compassionate, creative, and spiritual. I value social justice, continuous learning, speaking truth, indigenous healing and wisdom traditions, plants as medicine and nutrition, deep connection, community, collaboration, co-creation, and advocating for social change. Black Lives Matter. LGBTQ lives matter. The lives of all oppressed people matter to me. They matter equally to the lives of people who benefit (consciously or unconsciously) from systems that advantage some and disadvantage others. I value learning spaces where deep, honest conversations about race, oppression and justice happen and where connections are built across cultural differences. I know that those conversations and connections are life- and world-changing. I am a bridge. An energizing connector. 

I became a certified professional coach in 2007 when my corporate job began feeling like clothing I’d outgrown and my life felt out of sorts. I knew there was something more I was meant to be doing and more I was meant to be, but I couldn’t see it clearly at the time. Like most, I am a work in progress. Ever growing, learning, becoming. Coaching and being in community with others who care about healing, wholeness and justice continually spark learning and awaken gifts that were dormant in me. I now make choices that are more aligned with what matters most to me – family, community, collaboration, liberation, holistic health, healing, and justice. My spirituality, intuition, and connection with ancestral wisdom continue to deepen, and I embrace the healing/healer/activist aspects of my life purpose. I live my life authentically, with passion and purpose, and share my gifts in service of my family, communities and others. The work/contribution that brings me fully alive is:

  • Coaching culturally diverse individuals who want to live more authentically and share their gifts in ways that create more equity and justice. They are making powerful changes in their lives that ripple out!

  • Training aspiring and certified professional coaches and community coaches. Those certified coaches are supporting individuals, organizations and communities to bridge cultural divides and leverage the beauty of their individual and collective gifts.

  • Teaching coaching skills to and facilitating workshops for folks in organizations and communities through a social justice and cultural awareness lens. They are partnering across cultural differences and co-creating change that positively impacts family, workplace and community dynamics.

  • Facilitating healing and empowerment workshops for women who feel called to be a force for healing in their families and communities. They are healing generational trauma and moving in the world from a more centered, grounded and confident place.

  • Using coaching skills informally in all of my relationships – personal, professional, community, and in everyday encounters. People feel seen, heard, valued and respected. Connections are energized, and collaboration, co-creation and advocacy are catalyzed.

Together, we co-create partnerships where co-learning and transformation happen. Each person touched and impacted, grows in their ability to pass it on to others. Lives change, relationships change. Families, organizations and communities change. Together we are making a difference. We’re Collaborating Change! 

I look forward to meeting you and collaborating change with you!