Brené Brown is a researcher and storyteller whose work on vulnerability, shame, and empathy has shaped how many fields think about human connection.
Her RSA Animate video on empathy versus sympathy, drawing on Theresa Wiseman's four qualities, has become one of the most widely referenced explanations of the distinction between feeling with someone and feeling for them from a distance.
In the wiki she anchors the core definition and the warning against silver-lining responses that block real empathy.