Sharlene Kemler is the founder and CEO of SK Philanthropy, an award-winning consulting firm that is redefining how culture and giving intersect in the humanitarian space. Since starting SKP in 2014, Kemler has managed campaigns for Ben & Jerry’s, UN Women, Procter & Gamble, Viacom, Grey Global Group, the Marsha P. Johnson Institute, Loveland Foundation and numerous other organizations. She has established strategic partnerships for Burton Snowboards, BET, MTV, NowThis, and led a World AIDS Day takeover in Time Square. SKP has facilitated numerous celebrity partnerships, including such household names as Kendrick Lamar, Coldplay, Juanes, Snoop Dogg, Pyer Moss, Madonna, Saint Heron, and Alicia Keys. Since starting SKP, Kemler has raised over $150 million in both donations and donated services for her nonprofit clients. 

Sharlene Kemler was recently named as one of ten honorees for the inaugural Black Women Give Back List—a partnership between the Women’s Philanthropy Institute, The Women Invested to Save Earth (WISE) Fund, and Black Philanthropy Month. Her work has been featured in Elle, Billboard Magazine, Rolling Stone, Cosmopolitan, The Root, the Obama Foundation and CNN. Kemler is committed to inspiring both companies and individuals alike to rethink the ways they give, with a focus on community-based solutions, long-term sustainability, and meaningful impact for the communities that need it most.

SKP is focused on creating consistent coalitions that will provide sustainable giving over years, leaving the piecemeal donations that have so long plagued the philanthropic world in the past. Kemler believes in bringing companies and nonprofits together to make true and lasting change benefiting communities that are all too often denied institutional support. A former Peace Corps volunteer, Sharlene Kemler currently lives with her son and husband in Brooklyn, New York.