For Laurie Brown, community service is a natural response to gratitude.
Now the CEO of Intrepid College Prep in Antioch, Tennessee, Brown credits her passion for service to the many people who supported her along the way. Originally from the United Kingdom and later moving to the U.S. for high school, she experienced firsthand the power of mentors and advocates who showed up when it mattered most. Today, her volunteerism is about paying that support forward.
Brown serves as Board Chair for Persist Nashville and is also a member of Teach For America Nashville’s collective board. Across both roles, her focus remains the same: advocacy. Advocacy for students, families, and systems that help young people access opportunity and persist through challenges.
Persist Nashville’s work is especially meaningful to Brown. Earlier in her career, she worked directly in college access and persistence, helping students and families navigate the transition from high school to college. She saw how easily students — particularly first-generation students — can fall through the cracks without guidance. Persist addresses those gaps by supporting MNPS graduates from enrollment through their first two years of college, helping students manage everything from orientation and housing to academic and personal support.
As board chair, Brown partners closely with Persist’s executive director and staff, supporting strategic planning, strengthening board leadership, and using data to help improve outcomes. She is particularly encouraged by the organization’s growing impact with community college students, where targeted support has led to improved persistence and completion pathways.
Brown also challenges traditional ideas of volunteerism. Service doesn’t always require hours of free time. Sometimes it’s a short conversation, shared expertise, or a moment of encouragement. Those “micro moments,” she believes, can build meaningful, lasting impact.
For Brown, volunteerism isn’t about obligation — it’s about alignment. When service connects to passion, it fills the cup rather than drains it. Through her leadership and advocacy, Laurie Brown continues to show how doing good can be both impactful and deeply sustaining.
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