Sunni (Sun) Brown, Founder of CDSD

In 2007, Sun founded one of the country’s first visual-thinking consultancies, Sunni Brown Ink, and after leading and inspiring millions of multi-sensory learners, she deepened her offering and founded The Center for Deep Self Design. She was named one of the “100 Most Creative People in Business” and one of the “10 Most Creative People on Twitter” by Fast Company. Her TED talk has drawn over 1.6 million views and her work on visual thinking has been featured in every major U.S. publication including The New York Times, The New York Post, The Wall Street Journal (twice!), Time Magazine, WIRED, and Entrepreneur, as well as being featured twice on CBS Sunday Morning and on The TODAY Show. She was recruited by the former CEO of MURAL to be their first and only Innovator-in-Residence.

Sun’s two globally-beloved books—Gamestorming: A Playbook for Innovators, Rulebreakers and Changemakers, and The Doodle Revolution: Unlock the Power to Think Differently—have been translated into 25 languages and counting, and she’s currently working on the 2nd Edition of Gamestorming with her co-author, Dave Gray. She’s one of the educators widely credited with the rise of visual thinking as a tool for deeper inquiry, and she designed an elegant method of inner science called Deep Self Design™, which will be featured in a future book, part-memoir, part how-to.

As a fluent collaborator and veteran facilitator, Sun and her team have designed and led hundreds of group experiences in diverse industries, and Deep Self Design™ reflects her evolution after 17+ years of interactive work. Drawing on her expertise in creatively solving external challenges in business, Sun turned her attention toward resolving internal challenges, the source of much unnecessary human struggle.

Like many on the contemplative path, Sun began her investigation of inner science in 2007 after a series of personal crises catalyzed a personal and spiritual awakening. Sun trained for thousands of hours in za-zen, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, Right Use of Power, and two mind-body practices called Hakomi and Internal Family Systems. She continues to be a devout student of the American Zen tradition (an innovative branch of Sōtō that integrates Western psychology) and is the highest-level practitioner of a revolutionary, evidence-based therapy called Internal Family Systems, developed by one of her mentors, Dr. Richard Schwartz. She has trained for 17 years (the path is ongoing) with two revered teachers, Dr. Margaret Syverson, Sōtō Zen Priest with Dharma Transmission and Dr. Flint Sparks, Sōtō Zen Priest and former Clinical Psychologist, and is a Zen Chaplain-in-formation with the Upaya Zen Center in Santa Fe. She’s also training in Applied Shamanism with Sacred Stream in Berkeley, CA.

You can find Sun writing, gamestorming, and building a community of practice on Substack @NothingintheWay.