Brittany Brown

I attribute my success to my family and our values, especially my grandmother. I come from a tough cloth, and that tough cloth has built me up into the woman I am today. It started with my grandmother, and her being a caregiver for the original Gerber baby. I was young at the time, but I'll never forget those core memories. Watching how she put so much love and joy into what she did, that was the forefront for me, and it's been the forefront of my family. Believe it or not, we all are invested in the youth. Most of my family were involved in careers where they were youth-driven, teachers, daycare providers, after-school program individuals. So this is our way of giving back to not just our youth, but ourselves, being the people that we kind of wish that we had. Like, we have our family, and my family did a great job, but sometimes you need that one person whose voice is different to send you into a different direction.

The best career advice I've ever received is to play the game. I come from a background of sports as well. I'm a big basketball player. One of my brothers, we also work together, told me that sometimes, and it doesn't matter the profession, we have days where we get frustrated, and he said, you know, you just have to play the game. He was like, put your jersey on and get in there. He was like, put everything else to the side, and play the game that you know how to play. I've been living by it ever since. It's really just as easy as that. Just play the game, you know? You know your role. Play your role.

Don't stop. Believe it or not, this is an industry where a lot of men hold very substantial roles, and it can become overbearing sometimes. But just don't stop. Again, as long as you're doing everything that is morally correct, you can't lose. And you're always needed. Always needed, especially when it comes to the youth. We will always be a necessity.

Since getting my master's this past weekend, I've been getting a lot of opportunities. I'm very versatile and have a lot of knacks, and I'm a self-learner. But being able to make sure I'm putting myself in the correct position is challenging. So many opportunities have come knocking at my door. Some of them are great. Some of them are, like, you know, no disrespect, but you could have saved your phone call. But being able to make sure that I'm making the right decision is tough. I'm both a teacher as well as a chef, so I'm getting offers like, would you like to come run the hospital kitchen? Would you like to come run the restaurant kitchen? Would you like to come over to the Boys and Girls Club? Those decisions are tough because I have, as the kids say, locked in with my group of youth where I'm at now. And it's interesting, and as beautiful as a lot of these offers are, I want to stay true to them. So many people have been in and out of their lives. I just want to be that in person and not leave just because there was another opportunity, or the dollar sign was bigger, or the platform was bigger. In my position now, it's come with a lot of highs and lows. I just want to see it through with them. And that's hard, because this economy now, it's challenging.

Integrity is most important to me, and I feel like integrity covers a wide range of things. I've always told myself as long as I am doing things that are morally correct and things that would not cause hurt, harm, or danger, I'm only helping. And sometimes that looks different to other people, but I would never compromise my integrity to gain, or even to lose. So my integrity is one of my greatest values. I know you said one, but my loyalty wraps into that, because this has been my career path my entire life, working with the youth. So I instill in them that integrity and that loyalty, so that's a thing for me.