Lindsey Brown

Lindsey Brown is the Executive Director of the Southern Smoke Foundation, a national crisis relief organization for food and beverage workers.

Lindsey Brown graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in public relations. She began her career at Vollmer Public Relations, working in both the Dallas and Houston offices, before continuing on to serve as a Special Projects Coordinator for the Houston Ballet Academy. A classically trained ballerina through age 18, Brown later co-founded Ballet Barre, the Houston Ballet’s young professionals group. She continues to support the organization as a member of the Board of Trustees.

Brown spent a decade as Director of Marketing and Public Relations for the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau, where she helped shape Houston’s reputation as a national tourism and culinary destination. During her tenure, she launched the Where the Chefs Eat Houston Culinary Tours program, which earned the Public Relations Society of America’s Silver Anvil Award in 2011.

In 2015, Brown co-founded the Southern Smoke Foundation. The following year, she launched her own firm, Lindsey Brown Public Relations, representing clients in the food, beverage, and arts sectors and securing meaningful media coverage on the local, regional, and national levels. She led the agency through 2023, when she joined Southern Smoke Foundation full-time as Executive Director.

In June 2025, she was included in Cherry Bombe‘s first-ever Power List, recognizing 100 women making the culinary world a more interesting, inspiring, and innovative place.

Brown also serves on the advisory board of Dress for Success Houston and remains a dedicated advocate for Houston’s cultural and hospitality communities.