We Specialize in the Wholly Impossible Featuring Melanie Brown

Philanthropy, like many U.S. institutions, is in a moment of reckoning. It must be bolder, more transparent, more connected to community, and more committed to racial justice. While the sector is deciding whether it will inch closer to or further away from structural change, one group inside the field is not waiting for permission: Black women.

Black women are in the vanguard for social justice in the world and inside the field of philanthropy. In We Specialize in the Wholly Impossible, Melanie R. Brown gathered the stories of 25 Black women leading and working across the philanthropic charitable sector to gather their stories on leading at the intersection of race and gender.

About the Speaker: Melanie R. Brown is a nationally-recognized speaker and writer on philanthropy, social and racial justice and education policy. She began her career as a middle and high school educator. Melanie has worked across the philanthropic sector in both a regional and global foundation where her grant making has focused on accelerating academic achievement for Black, Latino and low-income students.

Melanie is a Senior Atlantic Fellow in Social and Economic Equity at the London School of Economics where her research focuses on Black women’s intersectional leadership in the philanthropic and charitable sectors worldwide.

Melanie occupies positions on the Alumni Association Board and the President’s Council on Diversity and Inclusion at American University, as well as the Arts in Education Advisory Council at Harvard University. She also sits on the board of the Women’s Funding Network, the largest philanthropic network of foundations, funds and organizations dedicated to improving the lives of women and girls around the world. https://www.melanierbrown.com/