Kelli Richardson Lawson is an Emmy Award-winning creative visionary and entrepreneurial business leader with a lifelong track record of championing change, impacting people’s lives, and investing in communities of color. Known widely for out-of-the-box thinking and breakthrough ideas, Kelli has over 35 years of experience in brand building, marketing, communications, business development, advertising, and community engagement. She is one of the co-creators and architects of The CROWN Movement to end hair discrimination which has impacted over 24 million lives in 21 states and 49 municipalities. Kelli is also the founder of The SonRise Project, an NAACP Image-Award nominated non-profit organization dedicated to helping families struggling with mental wellness and addiction issues. She also created BET’s Emmy-Award winning Rap-It-Up HIV/AIDS program, the BET Foundation to focus on obesity issues, and led The Ad Council’s COVID-19 vaccine education campaign to drive action and increase vaccination rates in the Black community.

Kelli is the Founder and CEO of The House of JOY (formerly JOY Collective), a Black and woman-owned cultural insights, marketing and creative agency delivering breakthrough work for brands like Dove, Dove Men+Care, SheaMoisture, BET, OWN, Disney, AARP, The Ad Council, The U.S. Naval Academy, Under Armour, Unilever, Weight Watchers, and more.

She is also the Founder and CEO of The SonRise Project, a non-profit organization focused on helping Black parents who may be dealing with mental wellness or addiction issues with their children. Kelli hosts a weekly free call for parents to share, engage and inspire one another in a dialogue filled with understanding, compassion, vulnerability, and inspiration. The SonRise Project also hosts “SonRise to Sunset” calls about aging parents, and “Survivor Stories” with Black teens and young adults sharing their suicide survival stories. In 2021, the Oprah Winfrey Network of podcasts collaborated with Kelli to create The SonRise Project podcast series to amplify the impact of this life-changing initiative nationwide.

Kelli created the first comprehensive marketing organization at BET, starting from a team of one and building to seven (7) divisions, including marketing, communications, creative services, special events, research, publishing, and public affairs. As the leader of BET’s marketing and communications organization, she created award-winning creative campaigns that drove record ratings year after year. She also led all marketing, PR and event-related elements of all the biggest tentpole events in the country, including the BET Awards, Celebration of Gospel, Hip Hop Awards, Spring Bling and BET Honors. Kelli’s leadership was recognized with hundreds of awards, including BET’s first-ever Emmy Award and several Telly, Promax, BDA, NAMIC, CTAM, CTPAA, ANA, and NAACP Image Awards.

Listed on the EBONY Power 100, Kelli’s honors include a 2023 Anthem Award for The Ad Council’s “Tuskegee Legacy” COVID-19 vaccine education campaign, a 2022 Black Women’s Agenda Award for CROWN, a 2022 Links Presidential Impact Award and ‘Women en Blanc’ Impact Award, along with 10 MARCOM Award, multiple PR Week Awards, and a 2021 NBCSL Nation Builder Award, and a “Hall of Femme Award” by PR Week. She and her team have won countless “Campaign of the Year” awards, including a highly coveted Global SABRE Award for the “#1 PR Campaign in the World” and several REGGIE and ANA Awards for various campaigns.

Kelli began her career at Procter & Gamble (P&G), working on billion-dollar brands in the packaged soap and mass fragrance divisions and worked as head of global advertising and innovation for the consumer division at Dell.

A native of Shaker Heights, Ohio, and an unwavering Cleveland Browns fan, Kelli is a proud graduate of Howard University and a 35-year Diamond Life member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated.

Kelli and her husband Keith have two sons, Kyle and Kristopher and she and her family live in Bethesda, Maryland. She is committed to creating a world filled with joy for herself, her family, her community, and the world; one human at a time.