The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are

Casandra Brené Brown was born in 1965 in San Antonio, Texas. She is a researcher and self-declared storyteller and as a research professor holds the Huffington Foundation Endowed Chair at the University of Houston. She proudly identifies as a Texan, having lived in the state for most of her life. Brown was “a college drop-in and drop-out for a number of years” (163), alternating classes with waiting tables, European travel, and tennis-playing. It was only in her late 20s that she discovered social work and dedicated herself to a graduate program and doctorate in the subject. Brown states that her lengthy road to finding her path is one of the key reasons why she “ended up studying human behavior and emotion for a living” (163).

She found her way into researching wholeheartedness via a qualitative research method called grounded theory, developed by Barney Glaser. Adopting Glaser’s method meant that Brown approached her research questions with as few preconceived hypotheses as possible so that the data emerging from the case studies informed her findings. Brown’s work led her to consider the fundamental nature of human connection. To explore this, she dedicated eight years to researching one of the key obstacles to connection—shame. It was during this time that she encountered a group of shame-resilient people who could accept their vulnerabilities and imperfections and live wholehearted, connected lives. Brown’s subsequent work has involved learning from these people and sharing their techniques, both in her own life and in her writing.

When The Gifts of Imperfection was originally published in 2010, it was a banner year for Brown, as her message was amplified by her world-famous TED Talk “The Power of Vulnerability.” Since then, her star has risen as she has combined the role of academic with a public profile in the self-development world. Her achievements in the latter include appearing on Oprah Winfrey’s Super Soul Sunday in 2013. In addition to her academic credentials, Brown’s success can in part be attributed to her personality. She has a warm homespun presence, appearing in jeans and big earrings, and she communicates approachably, combining hyperbole and colloquialisms with the language of spiritualism. Her readiness to own up to her mistakes and insecurities both in writing and speech make her a humble, relatable figure to many Americans.

As of this guide’s publication, Brown continues to make human emotion the cornerstone of her work. Atlas of the Heart (2021) explores how we can use the most common human emotions to cultivate connection. However, in her introductions to the reprints of The Gifts of Imperfection and You Are Your Best Thing, she adjusts her message of universality to acknowledge that racism and injustice have meant that not everyone can express their vulnerability with equal safety. This shows that she does not research and write in an academic silo but instead responds to the most pressing issues of the day.