Meet Beverly Browning | Nonprofit Capacity Building Consultant and Coach/Mentor to Grant Writers and Nonprofit Boards of Directors

We had the good fortune of connecting with Beverly Browning and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Beverly, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
Our small family (hubby, daughter, and me) did not have enough income from a full-time job and a self-employed spouse. I started writing grant applications as a volunteer (three years of gratis services in my Michigan community). My work was steady but unpaid. When I started charging a fee, business increased. The thought process was to be paid my worth, to have my college degrees count for something, and to help support our family.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My professional life has been built on challenges, oppression, a love for the grants industry, and grit. I don’t give up if something fails or doesn’t work out as planned. Like everyone else, I am emotionally flattened and surprised without a plan for business recovery; however, I am the great-granddaughter of the first generation of formerly enslaved people (Springfield, Illinois). The surviving women in my paternal grandmother’s lineage are all educated, working in professional positions, retired from public service, or working like me at nearly 75. We know how to pivot in crises, morph into the next great consulting or teaching area quickly, and keep going. I’ve learned this from my ancestors: never give up, don’t listen to the naysayers, set a goal, and keep working on attaining it. Stay strong in faith and always, always, faith over fear!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I would take them out to eat every day. I would recommend places where they could go sightseeing around the state. I would find the best hotels near me for them to stay at. I am not one to drive visiting friends and family all over the state. I think there is a time to visit and let them explore independently. The most fun is visiting together for a meal.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I want to dedicate this shout-out to Former Congressman Emeritus Shirley Chisholm (now deceased). Her book gave me the courage to launch a full-time business. Unbought and Unbossed is Shirley Chisholm’s account of her remarkable rise from a young girl in Brooklyn to America’s first African-American Congresswoman. She shares how she took on an entrenched system, gave a public voice to millions, and sets the stage for her trailblazing bid to be the first woman and first African-American President of the United States. Shirley Chisholm shows us how she forever changed the status quo by daring to be herself. Over 50 years ago, Shirley dedicated her life to uplifting marginalized and underrepresented communities; she transformed the Democratic Party into a more diverse coalition of members. She pushed for the inclusion of women in office and the well-being of women no matter where they stood. And she ran as a progressive candidate long before it was popular — in 1972, as the first African American and woman to be a major party candidate for U.S. president.

Website: https://bevbrowning.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bev.browning.48/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bevbrowning/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bev.browning.71/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGd0rlg7ivK8rhGs5MU48Ww

Image Credits
Angelia Malibrew Photography – Arizona