Nicole Brown

My career has been a journey through three distinct fields over more than 40 years. I started in media after graduating with my undergrad degree, working in the field for 15 years as an on-air personality. That overlapped with my move into higher education, where I spent 25 years at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. During that time, I made significant contributions including helping create the Office of Equity and Diversity, creating a radio station for students, providing avenues for minority faculty to pursue and get tenure, and teaching in the communication department. My transition to healthcare came about 5 years ago after my father had a horrible experience with healthcare during the pandemic. A board member submitted my resume for a position at Common Spirit Memorial, and I got the job. Last year, I was promoted to South Region Manager for Community Health and Benefit, where I oversee about 5 states and over 30 hospitals. In this role, I manage the funding arm that supports local nonprofits who are champions for healthcare, working on top health priorities from our community health needs assessment. This includes everything from access to healthcare, transportation, food insecurity, and housing. It's incredibly rewarding to give out funding and see each community impacted. One of my proudest achievements is recruiting two Black male physicians, who are twin doctors and TikTok sensations with almost 3 million followers, to come back home and work in the Tennessee, Georgia market. I also pursued my Master's in Public Administration at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga while working there, taking advantage of the free education benefit. Outside of my day job, I'm a filmmaker and just won my first Emmy Award on February 14, 2025, for my third documentary, which has won almost 22 awards total. The film initially screened in Chattanooga in February 2024, and winning the Emmy a year later was an incredible journey.