Carrye Burley Brown was raised in East Texas by her parents Ecomet Burley Sr and Willie Mae (Price) Burley. Both her parents were educators, her dad an elementary school principal and her mother a high school physical education teacher. Brown earned her undergraduate degree in home economics at Stephen F. Austin State University. She began her professional career as a teacher at Motley County High School in Matador Texas in 1974. In 1977 she moved to Washington D.C. becoming the Capitol Hill receptionist. A couple of years later she become a techincal assistant, analyzed and made recommendations on civilian fire research and training programs in the federal government. She was appointed the United States Fire Administrator in 1994 by President Bill Clinton, becoming the first woman and the first African American to hold the position.