Shaunie Henderson
Pioneering Media Mogul, Creative Visionary
Pioneering media mogul, philanthropist, creative visionary, and culture-shifting producer, Shaunie Henderson is the powerful and popular founder and CEO of Amirah, Inc., the juggernaut production company behind one of the most successful and genre-defining franchises in reality show history: The Basketball Wives, celebrating its tenth season. A dauntless entertainment maverick known for her magnetic charm, vast creative orbit, and highly sought-after production talents, Shaunie is driving change and reshaping the culture and mosaic of entertainment while steering a new generation of talent toward ever-expanding spheres of generational impact.
As a Black woman standing in stark contrast to the existing television producing landscape, Shaunie is a dominate force who is navigating the rarified air of producers who have achieved a multitude of highly admirable business milestones. Her proven model of reality is diversifying and transforming the terrain of the genre by empowering people of color and women in an industry that historically has lacked diversity and kept its innerworkings and wonders concealed and out of reach. Her show The Basketball Wives one of the most watched, longstanding and highest grossing shows in reality TV history continues to usher in a legion of aspiring and seasoned creatives—ignited by her soaring wisdom and deliberate advocacy to creating a pathway for women to capture economic freedom and independence.
Shaunie’s success can be attributed to her intentionality and commitment around empowering women to ensure that the lens of Black culture flourishes beyond limited representation. Amirah, Inc.—germinated out of Shaunie’s acknowledgment of the presence of so few women in key roles and her burning drive to alter such an imbalance—cementing her legacy as an industry force whose towering presence, gentle fortitude and soft defiance has broken through conventional boundaries while exponentially expanding the demographic and widening the audience by bringing renewed relevance and high wattage visibility to VH1 one of the most established legacy networks.
The Basketball Wives franchise was conceived and fueled by Shaunie’s passionate desire to amplify the personal journeys of women to help them build personal brands and establish independent voices. Her bold vision of highlighting the complex lives of the wives and girlfriends of some of the NBA’s top athletes, past and present, has elevated her to become a transcendent media powerhouse whose solitary path has elevated and expanded the scope of what is possible in and beyond the genre. Shaunie remains committed to helping others break into the television world, as she is now deeply focused on developing scripted television and feature films as she continues to build her thriving media empire.
In addition to her success with Basketball Wives, Shaunie played a major role in creating spin-offs—such as Shaunie’s Home Court and Basketball Wives L.A.—that launched the careers of other reality TV stars. In 2017, Shaunie expanded her enterprise by entering the world of real estate investing, pivoting her into a position where she can also educate women on how to create multiple streams of income.
Understanding the heightened spheres of influence and revenue generating potency that is synonymous with Black content Shaunie continues to cultivate her media footprint to ensure the continued expansion and evolution of defining our world’s most important and urgent voices. “As the founder of one of the most successful female-led entertainment companies, I am committed to empowering and supporting a new generation of storytellers. I did not have time to wait at the door of Hollywood for an invitation; I created my own door and now I’m inviting others with a passion for creativity in to build their own footprints.”
This Los Angeles native is deeply committed to motherhood and is proud to raise five children— Myles, Shareef, Amirah, Shaqir, and Me’Arah. She feels that establishing a solid foundation of love, sharing, and encouragement are essential to raising emotionally healthy and happy children in today’s society. Shaunie and her husband—Pastor Keion Henderson, a prominent spiritual leader with one of the nation’s fastest rising churches—split their time between Houston, Texas, where the Light House Church is based, and Los Angeles, California.