Brenda Stone Browder

Brenda Stone Browder author of ON THE UP AND UP: A Survival Guide for Women Living with Men on the Down Low, published by Dafina Books, an imprint of Kensington Publishing, February 2005. Brenda a writer, educator, and lay speaker, lives in Springfield, Ohio. She earned her BA degree in Communications/Journalism at Central State University, and completed the teacher certification program, at Urbana University. Brenda is currently a student of theology at United Theological Seminary, Dayton, Ohio, where she is pursuing a Masters of Divinity, and Masters of Religious Communication. She serves as a lay speaker at Covenant UMC in Springfield, Ohio. Brenda became concerned about women’s issues during a church service; she saw pain on the faces of women while listening to their testimonies. She became concerned that the women needed an outlet that would allow them to speak candidly on their concerns, and promote healing. The You are Not Alone Women’s Empowerment – Mind, Body, and Spirit seminars began to address women’s bottled-up issues. One issue that has secretly plagued women for years is MSM (men who have sex with men), or the Down Low lifestyle. In some cases women are aware of their significant other’s lifestyle, in some cases not. Brenda has personal experience with a previous failed marriage to a man who was living on the “down low.” Her former husband J.L. King, is the author of On the Down Low: A Journey Into the Lives of “Straight Black Men Who Sleep With Men (Broadway Books). In her workshop entitled “Surviving Life on the Down Low” Brenda speaks candidly on that relationship. She uses her test to be a testimony to others; “They are not alone. Many women have been brokenhearted, and their world shattered, to find that their spouses or significant other, is living a down low lifestyle.” Brenda’s emphasis is on “surviving the storm,” healing and forgiveness.