Mountains, Movies, and Media

By Terry Haycock

Meet VPC’s 2nd vice president for communications, Sunni Brown, whose first name aptly describes her presence. The mother of four — son Bonnar (7), daughter Gigi (6), and twin boys Sully and Cooper (3) — is a busy lady, juggling family and a demanding job.

Sunni hails from the small town of West Jefferson in the mountains near Boone, North Carolina. College studies brought her to southwest Virginia where she studied English and mass communications at Emory & Henry College, a small, private liberal arts college. Her interest in broadcast journalism began in high school, where she discovered she loved to write while working on the student newspaper.

After college, Sunni spent two years as a reporter and anchor at a small station in Bristol, Virginia, where her duties included reporting, shooting video, producing, making assignments, and editing. She later anchored and reported for the morning show at the NBC affiliate in Richmond. After five years at NBC, her priorities changed due to marriage and motherhood. She took her first position in public relations at the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, where she eventually became the agency’s media spokesperson responding to print, radio, and TV inquiries throughout Virginia. This role led to her present position as assistant director of media and public relations at the University of Richmond where for the past six years she has been focusing on connecting faculty experts with national reporters. She works primarily with faculty out of the hard sciences, a field she admits was originally beyond her experience. She now prides herself on sharing complex information in a way a general audience can digest. Recently, she connected university authorities with reporters covering subjects as diversified as the Harvey Weinstein trial and fruit bats! Working for UR, Sunni finds that she loves the academic environment and feels she has found her calling. “The energy on a college campus is intoxicating, and working at UR helps me stay fresh and current. I often feel like I’m back in college again, and I love getting to meet so many types of professionals.”

She found VPC four years ago through Cynthia Price, her boss at UR, who was president at the time. Sunni notes that “being involved in VPC is so important. It’s a solid professional network where all the members feel like my old friends.”

Asked to describe her family life, Sunni says, “I often feel like my home sounds like a rainforest full of howler monkeys, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world.” Favorite family activities include spending time at the neighborhood playground and going to movies on the weekend. They all LOVE popcorn! Sunni and husband Travis are movie and musical theater buffs. They enjoy dinner and a movie and subscribe to Broadway in Richmond. Says Sunni, “It’s fun to get dressed up and go out and enjoy something cultural that we wouldn’t normally do.”

Sunni loves ballroom dancing and is an avid fan of Dancing with the Stars. In fact, she and her mom recently attended the Richmond show at the Altria Theater, an annual tradition. Another favorite interest is cooking and baking. A Food Network channel devotee, Sunni and daughter Gigi bake almost every weekend. She also keeps in touch with girlfriends. “It’s important to take time for yourself and to spend time with friends.”

Introduce yourself to Sunni at the next VPC meeting. I’m sure you will be as delighted to meet her as I was.