Staff Snapshot: Ann Brown

For Ann Brown, who has worked at Hymnary for a little over a year now since starting in October 2017, a typical day and week involves designing and implementing features for the website, updating and hunting down any bugs in our code and providing feedback to her colleagues through our code review process.

It's a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff, but it keeps the site humming and ensures that it continually responds the users' needs. And Brown finds that gratifying.

"Being part of a team that is excited and engaged is wonderful," she says. "There are continuing opportunities to learn and grow and to exercise creative problem-solving. And it is gratifying to work on a project about something as meaningful to people as hymns can be."

Brown, a Grand Rapids native who majored in computer science at Grand Valley State University, is not just grateful to be one of the people who makes the site better; she also appreciates what Hymnary had to offer, especially the ability to learn more of the story behind a particular hymn and the opportunity to explore hymns she might be less familiar with. And she appreciates that Hymnary continues to make available to people content that has a deeper meaning.

"Church music is a comfort and an inspiration to many people," she says, "and singing together can be a means to connect with others and to be moved by your own faith. Hymnary works to assist and facilitate that, giving congregations, worship planners and musicians useful tools. I think that helping with such a positive part of peoples’ lives is good work to undertake."


Ann Brown