DeShuna Spencer

DeShuna Spencer is a social impact executive who is the founder & CEO of kweliTV, a global streaming service that curates the largest library of indie Black films & docs from across the globe. As a former journalist & radio host, DeShuna’s work focuses on the intersection of media images and implicit bias. She speaks frequently on media representation, diversity in the streaming & the OTT space, social entrepreneurship, the effects of Black trauma content, challenges & opportunities in the media landscape, starting a media tech venture, women in media & tech, and her journey as a Black founder.

She’s a former radio host and producer of emPower Hour, a show that examined social justice issues affecting people of color, on Washington, DC’s 89.3 FM WPFW. A Memphis native, Spencer graduated from Jackson State University where she studied communications and journalism. She has written for The Clarion-Ledger, The Oakland Tribune and the Crisis Magazine. Before becoming an entrepreneur, Spencer served as Director of Communications for EdMarket where she ran the communications department and managed all media properties for the organization. A former AmeriCorpsVISTA and Chips Quinn Scholar, Spencer recently completed her first documentary, Mom Interrupted*, which tackles gun violence through the stories of the ones most impacted—the mothers of murdered young black men and women.