Deleál “NiNi” Gladney Brown
Deleál “NiNi” Gladney Brown was born to Ellery Grear and Destria Gladney in Fairfield, California, a small town at the edge of the Bay Area. She is the firstborn of the couple, the oldest of seven combined siblings from each parent (four brothers and two sisters). As a child, she was very active in the church, having attended New Hope COGIC at birth and New Life COGIC as a young child with her godparents, but she grew up at Vallejo Revival Center. She sang in the youth choir, was a praise dancer, and was very active in the children’s church ministry and youth ministry. NiNi gave her life to Christ at the age of eight and received the baptism of the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in tongues at the age of nine during children’s church at Vallejo Revival Center. At the age of ten, NiNi was water baptized.
NiNi enjoyed learning about the Bible and God, so she took many adult education classes including Old and New Testament Survey, Baptism, Evangelism, and more—while in elementary school. Having learned that her middle name, Althea, is Hebrew for healer, she took a class on healing. At the conclusion of the course, having full faith that she could pray and people’s arms and legs could be extended to the same length (if they weren’t already), she went home and started praying for every child, stray cat, and mangy dog in the low-income housing complex she grew up in!
NiNi went on to join the adult choir at the age of twelve and began working in the nursery while remaining active in the other ministries throughout junior high and high school. At thirteen, she began directing the church choir.
Drawing from the natural musical gift from her father, a music educator for over thirty-five years, NiNi played several instruments in the school band from elementary school through college—drums, flute, clarinet, saxophone, and piano—in the concert, marching, and jazz bands. So loved by her elementary school music teacher, NiNi directed the school band and the chorus if ever Mrs. Gaut was absent and hired a substitute. In fact, Mrs. Gaut had so much faith in NiNi’s abilities that Mrs. Gaut was the only music teacher in the district who could hire a substitute in her absence. In junior high summer program, NiNi took a drama class from Mr. Gaut, Mrs. Gaut’s husband. NiNi was part of their family.
NiNi was also very athletic. She played basketball, fast-pitch softball, and cheered/danced. She was an all-star cheerleader/dancer for the semipro team to the San Francisco 49ers, the Solano Chiefs. She went on to coach youth cheerleaders, who frequently placed in the top three at national competitions.
NiNi attended California State University, Chico, where she continued coaching and directing the choir at Second Baptist Church of Chico. While there, she became a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., and cofounded the Chico State Gospel Choir. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science/Legal Studies and a minor in Latin American Studies/Spanish. She received her Master of Healthcare Administration with honors from Grantham University in 2021.
Following in her parent’s footsteps, NiNi joined the military and spent ten years in the US Army. One of those years was spent on deployment in Iraq at Camp Victory, the headquarters of Operation Iraqi Freedom, and at the US Embassy Baghdad. She was a paralegal and human resources noncommissioned officer (NCO).
NiNi married her college sweetheart, Dia Brown. Unfortunately, he fell ill and passed away months right before his forty-fifth birthday and just shy of seven years of marriage. NiNi and Dia moved to Phoenix in 2014 and attended Christian Pavilion COGIC and Pavilion of Praise COGIC. After Dia’s passing, NiNi began attending Trinity COGIC, where she now serves as the leader of the Women’s Department.
NiNi has three children, Deyani (25), DeAnna (16), and David (3). She currently works at Bank of America Investments. She sings in the jurisdiction choir and with various musical groups in the valley. She hopes to one day earn a missionary license. NiNi is an avid community volunteer, volunteering over 200 hours per year for organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, St. Mary’s Food Bank, Feed My Starving Children, Arizona Veterans Foundation, The Citadel of Praise Martin Luther King, Jr. Scholarship Fund, and more. She enjoys spending time with her awesome children and creating personalized T-shirts, jewelry, tumblers, décor, and more for her business, “Nideda Brown.”