Austin Channing Brown is an author and speaker providing inspired leadership on racial justice in America. She started her writing career on her blog during the Black Lives Matter era, garnering hundreds of thousands of readers who anticipated her compelling writing every week. In 2018, she released her first book, The New York Times bestselling I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness. This book proved to meet the cultural zeitgeist in America, from being chosen for Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club to being a featured plot point on the second season of BelAir, where it gave rise to a protest for Black students in a predominately white school.

Austin then wrote a young readers version of I’m Still Here, and contributed essays to two anthologies, Hungry Hearts and You Are Your Best Thing. The latter was also a New York Times bestseller, edited by Tarana Burke and Brene Brown.

In 2025, Austin released Full of Myself: Black Womanhood and the Journey to Self-Possession. When she started writing Full of Myself, Austin had no idea it would release during a time when Black women were purposefully pushed out of DEI programs, university positions and government roles. And yet, this book, which opens with a story of being fired, continues to meet the moment. It became a USA Today bestseller.

Austin earned a Bachelor of Arts in business management from North Park University as well as a Masters of Arts in social justice from Marygrove College in Detroit. In 2024, she was awarded an honorary doctorate from Oakland University in Michigan. She has also been given a Key to the City in her hometown, Toledo, OH.