Katrina Brownlee, a life coach, mentor, author, and the founder/director of Young Ladies of Our Future Inc., is using her personal story of survival to inspire others to rise above trauma and adversity.
In a recent Instagram post (@ms.katrina456), Brownlee reflected on her beginnings, writing:
“Every journey has a beginning. Mine started in pain, but it grew into strength, faith, and resilience.”
Brownlee’s journey has been marked by profound hardship. As she revealed in her video, she is a domestic violence survivor who was shot 10 times by her ex-fiancé, a New York City correction officer.
Despite nearly losing her life, she later went on to become an NYPD detective, demonstrating extraordinary resilience and determination.
Her video also recounts her upbringing in Brooklyn’s Bed-Stuy neighborhood, where she was raised by her grandmother after her teenage mother was unable to care for her. Brownlee described enduring transgenerational trauma, neglect, and the effects of addiction in her household. These challenges, she said, shaped her self-esteem and sense of identity.
“My story is based on transgenerational trauma, which is a reality to a lot of families,” she explained. “We have these stories of child abuse, sexual abuse, all kinds of different abuse based on children being neglected. I was one of those children.”
Brownlee shares these experiences in her memoir, And Then Came The Blues: On Both Sides of the Badge, which details her journey from victim to survivor, and from despair to purpose.
Through her book, mentorship work, and speaking engagements, she emphasizes that trauma does not define a person’s destiny.
“No matter what you’re going through or what you have been through, it doesn’t define your destiny,” she said in her video message. “It doesn’t define where and how your life can be and how you can end up.”
With Young Ladies of Our Future Inc., Brownlee works to inspire, empower, and educate young women, equipping them with the tools to break cycles of abuse and build lives rooted in strength and self-worth.
Her story, deeply personal yet universally resonant, serves as a testament to the power of resilience, faith, and purpose.
As she tells her audience, this is just the beginning of a series where she will continue to share lessons of survival and growth:
“Put your seat belt on because we’re about to go for a ride.”
