Ayanna F. Brown earned her B.S from Tuskegee University in Secondary Education Language Arts, her M.Ed in Curriculum and Instructional Leadership, and Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University in Interdisciplinary Studies: Language, Literacy, and Sociology. Her career in education spans both public and private organizations, including teaching Middle-Level English Language Arts and leading college readiness planning for urban youth with a consortium between Vanderbilt University and Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools.

Ayanna F. Brown is Associate Vice President of Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at Erikson Institute. Her research examines discussions of race in secondary school settings and how the discursive aspects of dialogue contribute to racial literacies in situ.