Avery L. Brown

Why did you choose the Trachtenberg School?

Since I was a kid, I knew I wanted a career in public service. Growing up in Alabama, I saw early how policy shows up in people's lives, and I knew I wanted to shape it rather than just react to it. Trachtenberg was how I got there. What drew me was the combination of rigor and proximity. I could learn the discipline of public policy at night and watch it play out a few Metro stops away by day. My wife and I packed up our cars during the pandemic and moved to DC so we could both pursue graduate degrees, betting on ourselves and on what public service education could open up. Trachtenberg took both the craft and the calling seriously, and that was exactly what I was looking for.

Looking back, what are the most valuable skills, tools, or aha-moments you gained at Trachtenberg that you still rely on today?

The biggest shift was learning to write for a decision-maker rather than a professor. Bottom line first, evidence underneath, tradeoffs made honest. I still open every memo that way. The deeper aha-moment was realizing that good policy is rarely about being right and usually about weighing competing goods under real constraints. Doing this while working full time during the day and taking classes at night taught me to be ruthless about what actually matters. That habit of laying out options rather than forcing a single answer is something I use almost daily now at Adobe.

In what ways did the Trachtenberg community—whether professors, peers, or alumni—support or influence your career?

My first year at Trachtenberg unfolded during the pandemic, largely through a screen, while I worked full time by day and logged into class at night. That could have made the experience transactional. It did the opposite. The professors who pushed my thinking and the classmates who were in it alongside me are what stayed with me. The Trachtenberg network turned out to be a living thing, not a mailing list, and it has shaped where I have gone since. That is why I joined the Alumni Council. I wanted to be for someone else what those people were for me. I appreciate you and everyone who works to make us feel at home even when we are not there.

What advice would you share with someone looking to pursue a career similar to yours?

Bet on yourself before you feel ready. I chased the questions I cared about and found that the journey of discovery gave more than any answer ever did. What connected city hall, Capitol Hill, and technology policy was never a title, it was a set of questions I kept caring about. So build genuine relationships instead of a network, stay curious past the edges of your job description, and hold your values steady, because the skills open the door but your judgment is what keeps you in the room. The path rarely looks like a straight line, and that is usually a sign you are doing it right.