Rushia Brown

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Rushia Brown's Biography :

Inaugural Member of the WNBA, Played 7 Seasons with the Cleveland Rockers, Won 2 Eastern Conference Titles, Currently Founder of the Women’s Professional Basketball Alumnae Association, Manger of Team and Player Development with the Las Vegas Aces

About Rushia Brown

Questions & Answers

I lost my father to cancer as a freshman in high school & went into a downward spiral. After multiple negative situations, I found sports & my life took a turn. I had a way to connect with my dad & make him proud of me. While my sport gave me that connection, when I retired from pro basketball, I went into a depression because I didn’t know who I was & what my purpose was. One year when I was overseas, someone broke into my house while I was asleep in my bed & came into my room. I was traumatized but knew I had to keep it to myself & not tell my family because they would want me to come home.
The sum of these events over those years made me emotionless & incapable of connecting with anyone or anything.

Initially, I turned to alcohol & inappropriate behavior. Then sports became my coping mechanism. After retiring I went to speak with someone when my mom brought it to my attention that I was always locked in my room in the dark IN THE BED. I was diagnosed with High Functioning Depression

I started to improve from that dark place by making myself get active, doing community service & helping others, not sitting around too long & just focusing on how badly I was feeling.

I realized that so many people experience similar situations & there is more to be learned when we share our vulnerabilities to empower one another.
My #SameHere story, once I shared publicly, was very well-received & people connected with me because they didn’t just see me as an athlete that achieved their goals, but as a woman that had obstacles, challenges & set backs but still managed to push through & be successful.
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