Loxley Browne

Loxley Browne is an author, entrepreneur, photographer, designer, and lifelong explorer whose work is rooted in one enduring idea: stories have the power to change how we see ourselves and what we believe is possible.

Born into a Southern family of changemakers and storytellers, Browne grew up surrounded by remarkable stories. Her family history stretches from George Washington, the first President of the United States, to a judge who helped bring electricity to rural Georgia, to her grandmother, who served as a nurse to Hollywood cowboy legend Tom Mix. Those stories captured her imagination early and sparked a lifelong fascination with people, places, ingenuity, and lives lived beyond the ordinary.

That curiosity shaped an unconventional career spanning entrepreneurship, design, invention, photography, writing, and education. In 2011, Browne traded a conventional life for a nomadic adventure, traveling extensively and documenting the people, cultures, and places she encountered through photography and whimsical writing. Along the way, she developed a philosophy that still guides her work: look closer, stay curious, and seek the stories others might overlook.

Eventually, that instinct led her to another kind of storytelling.

Browne is the creator and author of the Charms Book Series, a seven-book adventure series designed to get middle-school girls excited about reading while weaving together invention, aviation, mystery, leadership, life skills, and career exploration. She wanted girls to do more than read about adventure… she wanted them to participate in it, solve problems, ask questions, and discover what they were capable of along the way.

In 2019, Browne founded Athenian, the nonprofit behind Books That Build Skills, bringing together literacy, hands-on learning, life skills, and career exploration. Today, as Founder & CEO, she is building new pathways that connect childhood curiosity with confidence, capability, and future opportunity.

She also hosts Careers IRL, introducing young people to the stories behind fascinating careers and showing them that there is rarely one straight path to becoming who they are meant to be.

Her work has reached more than 3,200 children through 100+ educational experiences nationwide and has been featured through NPR, CBS, ABC, CNN, Vogue, podcasts, libraries, and educational programs across the country.

Whether behind a camera, writing an adventure, interviewing an extraordinary person, or building something that did not exist before, Browne is still doing what she has always done: following curiosity, finding the story, and helping others see what is possible.

HOW TO BECOME ATHENIAN

Teachings of a Mentor

Every conversation I have begins with, “How did you come up with this idea?” For me, the need for Athenian was obvious. I have been the only woman in the room my entire career. Nothing about that is easy.

What I came to understand was that changing who gets a seat at the table starts long before a girl chooses a college major or a career. It starts with what she reads, what she experiences, the skills she builds, and whether she has ever been given the opportunity to imagine herself doing something she didn’t know existed.

That is what Athenian has become. Through Books That Build Skills, we use stories to build confidence, develop real-world skills, introduce girls to careers and possibilities, and encourage them to explore a much bigger world.

Because before a girl can become something, she first has to know it’s possible.

Leadership

Leading by example is at the heart of the Charms Book Series. Across the stories, Attie and her friends face challenges that require them to communicate, manage their time, solve problems, make difficult decisions, take risks, work together, and learn from the moments when things don’t go according to plan.

Those skills build from book to book as the girls grow with the series. By the final story, leadership isn’t simply something they’ve been taught, it’s something they’ve learned through experience.

Because leadership isn’t one skill. It’s what happens when all the other skills come together.

Becoming a Renaissance Woman

I’ve never believed we have to be just one thing.

I’ve been an entrepreneur, inventor, product designer, photographer, writer, author, traveler, marketer, brand builder, creative director, nonprofit founder, and community builder. I’ve launched companies, developed products from idea to market, built brands and websites, created marketing and PR campaigns, pitched investors, written books, photographed the world, and brought people together around ideas I believed could become something bigger.

For a long time, those pursuits may have looked like separate chapters. Today, I see them differently. Each one taught me a skill I needed for the next. Design taught me to see possibilities. Entrepreneurship taught me to solve problems. Photography taught me to look closer. Travel taught me curiosity. Writing taught me the power of story. Building companies taught me resilience, leadership, and how to turn an idea into something real. Community taught me that the best ideas grow when people come together around them.

That philosophy is woven throughout the Charms Book Series and Books That Build Skills. I want girls to understand that their interests don’t have to fit neatly into one box. The things they read, make, explore, learn, and even struggle with are building a collection of skills they will carry with them for life.

That, to me, is becoming a Renaissance woman: stay curious, keep learning, collect skills, explore widely, and never believe you have to become only one thing.

Awards

2022 Business Woman of the Year Finalist presented by the San Diego Business Journal
2021 CEO of the Year Finalist presented by the San Diego Business Journal
2021 Pinnacle Award, Service Provider presented by Athena SD
2021 Woman of Influence in Tech presented by the San Diego Business Journal
2020 Engineering Project of the Year presented by the San Diego Engineers Council
International Photography Award Gold Honorable Mention presented by the Lucie Foundation
Editorial feature published in Cosmopolitan magazine for my creation and design of a card game
Published in Modern Luxury magazine for residential Interior Design projects
Published in House to Home for Furniture Design
IIDA award for the Comcast Data Center commercial design project