Kirsten Brown Persley

Dr. Kirsten Brown Persley is an author, speaker, and Founder and CEO of Persley Advisors, a consulting firm that works with organizations to unlock the superpowers of their talent by cultivating cultural competence.

Dr. Brown Persley formerly served as the Executive Director of a nonprofit, where she led a successful relaunch of the Kansas City market and led strategies and initiatives to increase cultural competence within the marketing and advertising industry.

Before serving as a nonprofit leader, Dr. Brown Persley was a Founding Principal for five years. As a founding school leader, Dr. Brown Persley managed a team of teachers, support staff members, and administrators, and she launched two school concepts. During her tenure, she helped the school secure funding and developed innovative programs that fostered community engagement, strategic partnerships, and authentic/real-world learning opportunities for students and staff, all while fostering a staff and student culture focused on cultivating the excellence of all within the school.

Dr. Brown Persley graduated from the University of Missouri-Kansas City's Institute for Urban Education (IUE). In 2021, she was recognized as a NextGen Leader by the Kansas City Business Journal.

Dr. Brown Persley completed the Leading Educators Fellowship program and has completed her Master’s in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at the University of Missouri-Columbia. She was also an Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis Fellow at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Dr. Brown Persley completed her doctorate in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at the University of Kansas (KU) in May 2023.

Dr. Brown Persley serves on the Board of Directors of LEANLAB Education, and she also serves on the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce’s Diverse Business Committee, the United Way of Kansas City's Women's United Cabient, and she is also a board member of Turn the Page KC.