Shawn Brown (or Aunt Shawn) is an American artist and florist, and Kirby’s maternal aunt. With her mother, she co-owned and operated Jackie & Daughter Flower Shop for more than 35 years. One of Leroy’s Three Angels, she is an internationally recognized Certified Floral Designer (CFD) and the Senior Director of Visitor Experience at Rodale Institute.
Kirby regards Shawn as a major creative influence. Her Folkedelic artwork, entrepreneurial approach, and early opportunities for paid work shaped his sense that labor can be imaginative rather than purely routine.
Background
Shawn is the daughter of Leroy “Jock” Brown and Jacqueline “Jackie” Winter Brown, and the younger sister of Tonia and older sister of Shannon (Kirby’s mother). She is married to Dan Whitaker.
Together with Jackie, Shawn expanded Jackie & Daughter, also referred to as “The Shop,” to a Kutztown storefront, where the business operated for over three decades. It was known for playful touches, like Shawn’s hand-drawn cards, Halloween spectacles on Trick-or-Treat Night, and even a short-lived upstairs consignment space. In 2016 the pair closed the store, with Shawn telling the Reading Eagle:
“We had a really big party when we opened, so we want to have a big party when we close… Being in Kutztown, beyond the customers, I think the thing that I’ve most enjoyed was working with other merchants and the spirit of the merchants to work together and to have events to really make downtown a nice place. I think it’s changed a lot in 35 years that we’ve been here.”
Following the closure, Shawn joined the Rodale Institute, planning weddings and events and managing the on-site gift shop. As an independent artist, she’s known for her Folkedelic style, blending Pennsylvania Dutch motifs with a psychedelic twist. Her custom-painted furniture was featured at the Kutztown Folk Festival in 2023 and 2024.
Influence on Kirby
Shawn played an active role in Kirby’s upbringing. A constant presence at holidays and family dinners — and later the Tuesday Night Dinners — she often organized hangman or drawing games. For a time, she arrived at Tuesday Nights each week with written questions or prompts, recording everyone’s answers and saving them as small archives.
Her home, with its large backyard, became a familiar extension of Kirby’s childhood world. He recalls watching Shrek there with her and his brother Beckham, and engaging in competitive games of bocce ball.
Shawn also gave Kirby his first paid work at Jackie & Daughter Flower Shop, where he swept floors, prepped flowers, and joined Leroy on deliveries. Outside of work, she often took Kirby and Beckham Christmas shopping and to Olive Garden, where Kirby once set his personal record of seventeen breadsticks and a full meal.
When Kirby turned eighteen, Shawn gifted him both of his first tattoos. The first, Keith Haring’s “Radiant Baby,” was done while he was still in school; the second, three triangles from White Lies’ To Lose My Life single cover, followed soon after. Both were done by friends of hers—and Kirby’s cousin Josh—at Lucky 13 Tattoo.
During Kirby’s college years, Shawn’s husband Dan helped him set up hosting for a short-lived music blog. This experience laid the foundation for Kirby’s later web and WordPress skills, which became central to his freelance career.
After The Shop closed in 2016, Shawn began working at the Rodale Institute, managing events and weddings. She occasionally hired Kirby to assist as a cashier during Rodale events, praising his performance, despite the turbulence of his Wasted Potential years.
When Kirby faced a minor run-in with local authorities during that same period, Shawn quietly picked him up early that morning and never mentioned the incident again. He continued to work at Rodale periodically until the summer of 2022.