Hope Leans Forward

Valerie Brown is a Buddhist-Quaker Dharma teacher, facilitator, and executive coach. A former lawyer and lobbyist, she is codirector of Georgetown's Institute for Transformational Leadership as well as founder and chief mindfulness officer of Lead Smart Coaching. She is an ordained Buddhist Dharma teacher in the Plum Village tradition, founded by Thich Nhat Hanh, and is a certified Kundalini yoga teacher. In her leadership development and mindfulness practice, she focuses on diversity, social equity, and inclusion. Brown is an award-winning author whose books include The Road That Teaches and The Mindful School Leader with Kirsten Olsen. She holds a juris doctor from Howard University School of Law, a master of arts from Miami University (Ohio), and a bachelor of arts from City University of New York. Brown tends a lively perennial home garden in New Hope, Pennsylvania.

Machelle Williams has crafted an easy storytelling style from twenty-three years as a corporate trainer and keynote diversity speaker. Since 2016 she has successfully produced over twenty-eight audiobook projects. Machelle's voice is nuanced, ranging from soft and soothing to dramatic and smoky. She specializes in mysteries and thrillers; her bespoke repertoire also includes cozy mysteries and nonfiction, as well as titles in the religious, urban, and noire genres. When you need a narrator to take your listener to the edge of their seat and their breath away, trust the telling to Machelle.