Bernadette Brown joined Triangle Foundation as the Director of Policy in August 2008.

Bernadette was born and raised in Detroit.  She received her Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from Columbia University, graduating on the Dean’s List and was a two-time recipient of the Robert A. Quittmeyer Scholar Award.  While at Columbia, she collaborated with a nurse-midwife on the creation of a postpartum support program for low income women in Harlem, NY.  She also completed a fellowship at Latino Family Services in Detroit, where she worked as a youth counselor in an alternatives to incarceration program designed for adolescent males involved in the criminal justice system.

Bernadette received her Juris Doctorate from Boston University School of Law, and was an Edward F. Hennessey Scholar.  While in law school, Bernadette was a Student Advocate for Ending Domestic Violence and a member of Outlaw, BUSL’s LGBT student organization.  She completed an internship with Judy Norsigian at the Boston Women’s Health Book Collective, where she researched legislation on reproductive cloning and pharmaceutical direct-to-consumer advertising.  She was also a guest panelist with feminist author Naomi Wolf at Simmons College in Boston, at a forum on women’s reproductive health.  Additionally, Bernadette worked with Massachusetts Representative Kathleen Teahan and drafted legislation to protect a parent’s right to refuse to administer ADHD medications to his/her child.  By far, Bernadette’s “coolest” moment during law school was being one of the lucky few people allowed admittance to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court to witness the oral argument in the landmark case that legalized same-sex marriage in Massachusetts, Goodridge v. Department of Public Health.

With law degree in hand, Bernadette became a public defender with the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem, and was an attorney in the Litigation Department at the prestigious law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, LLP, in New York City.  Bernadette is a member of the New York State Bar Association.

Bernadette is an avid fan of the Detroit Shock!  She loves Pedro Almodovar movies (and almost anything not produced by Hollywood), learning about new forms of meditation, and her favorite television show of all time is Six Feet Under.  Bernadette is constantly entertained by her young son, Jabran, who is named after her favorite poet, Khalil Gibran.  They reside in Bloomfield Hills.