Charmaine Brown did not want to work for a corporation. After watching both her parents build careers in corporate America, she “didn’t want to have to wear suits and pantyhose” to work, she says. Rather, Brown “wanted to be in the service of helping others” and pursued a degree in kinesiology, the study of human movement.
Today, Brown is the director of diversity and inclusion for Forest City Enterprises (FCE), a national real-estate company. She is responsible for leading diversity management throughout the entire organization. The company is focusing on improving diversity accountability across the enterprise.
From Occupational Therapy to Diversity Management: Brown graduated from Michigan State University and planned to attend grad school for occupational therapy. But she realized her affinity for business over healthcare when she took a job as a client liaison for a therapy company in Cleveland that managed several nursing homes.
