I am Tige Charity, and I dream beyond limits!
Transformational Speaker | Leadership Strategist | CEO | Author
My life’s work is inspired by Ephesians 2:10: “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
“Transcending Barriers”
Kids In The Spotlight
KITS is a Black-led, Los Angeles County-based organization that helps foster youth heal and grow from trauma through the power of storytelling and filmmaking.
Production Studio
KITS Production Studio with Purpose [PSWP] to change life outcomes for youth in/from foster care by increasing career readiness, social capital, and resiliency.
IMDB
Executive Producer and Casting Director
Author
Not Your 9-to-5 Girl
Created to Do Great Things
Host
Leaders In The Spotlight Podcast
Speaker
Expert in her field
CEO | Educator | Leadership Strategist
As the Founder and CEO of Kids In The Spotlight (KITS), I have spent more than 17 years leading one of the nation’s most innovative nonprofit organizations dedicated to empowering foster care-impacted and opportunity youth through storytelling, filmmaking, workforce development, and paid career pathways. Under my leadership, KITS has served over 1,500 system-impacted youth and (quality over quantity) produced more than 120 original short films written by and starring young people whose voices deserve to be heard.
Beyond my work as a nonprofit executive, I am passionate about developing the next generation of leaders. I previously served as an Adjunct Professor at American Jewish University, where I taught the graduate course Managing the Nonprofit Enterprise, and as an instructor at Burbank Adult School, teaching Nonprofit Management. Through the classroom, the boardroom, and the stage, I equip individuals with practical strategies to strengthen organizations, maximize impact, and lead with purpose. My life’s mission is to reflect the love of God while helping people and organizations transform vision into measurable, meaningful, and lasting impact.
Author | Speaker | Changemaker
Whether through the written word or from the stage, my mission is the same: to equip people to overcome barriers, maximize their potential, and transform purpose into meaningful, lasting impact.
As the author of Not Your 9-to-5 Girl, I challenge aspiring entrepreneurs, leaders, and changemakers to think beyond conventional paths, embrace bold possibilities, and pursue lives of purpose and significance. My children’s book, Created to Do Great Things: A Story of Faith and Dyslexia, encourages young readers to embrace their uniqueness, persevere through challenges, and believe they were created to accomplish extraordinary things. As a transformational speaker, I inspire audiences to lead with courage, think differently, and create measurable impact in their lives, organizations, and communities. Every keynote, workshop, and presentation is designed to provide practical strategies, renewed perspective, and the confidence to turn obstacles into opportunities. Whether I’m writing, speaking, or serving my community, my passion remains the same: to help people discover what’s possible when they walk in purpose, embrace innovation, and commit to creating lasting impact.
Signature Speaking Topics Designed to Inspire Action, Equip Leaders, and Create Lasting Impact
- Bye Bye Barriers: Turning Obstacles into Opportunities
- Purpose-Driven Leadership: Aligning Career with Purpose
- The Business of Social Impact: It Takes a Village
- Storytelling That Inspires Change: Moving Hearts & Inspiring Action
- FLAME Your Gifts: Are you Flaming or Flickering?
- Building Organizations from Ground Zero: From Zero funding to Millions
- From Systems to Sets: Where Workforce Development Meets Opportunity
- Leadership Through Innovation: Turning Vision into Action
For more than 17 years, I’ve dedicated my life to helping individuals, leaders, and organizations discover what’s possible when they lead with purpose, courage, and vision.
As the Founder and CEO of Kids In The Spotlight (KITS) & KITS Production Studio with Purpose, I transformed a bold idea into a nationally recognized nonprofit and social enterprise that empowers foster care-impacted and opportunity youth through storytelling, filmmaking, workforce development, and paid career pathways. Through innovative programs and strategic partnerships, more than 1,100 young people have discovered their voice, earned industry credits, developed workforce skills, and built brighter futures through the power of storytelling. Today, I bring those same leadership principles to organizations across the country as a transformational speaker, leadership strategist, executive consultant, and social entrepreneur. I partner with nonprofits, corporations, educational institutions, faith-based organizations, and community leaders to strengthen leadership, expand impact, inspire innovation, and build cultures where people and purpose thrive. Whether speaking on stage, facilitating executive retreats, advising organizational leaders, or helping teams navigate change, my mission remains the same:
Signature Speaking Topics
- Bye Bye Barriers: Turning Obstacles into Opportunities
- Purpose-Driven Leadership
- The Business of Social Impact
- Storytelling That Inspires Change
- Leadership Through Innovation
- Building Organizations That Create Lasting Impact
Impact Enthusiast
Creating Impact Isn’t Just What I Do: It’s Who I AM
People often ask why I wear so many hats: CEO, speaker, leadership strategist, consultant, author, filmmaker, podcast host, and social entrepreneur.
The answer is simple. I’m an impact junkie.
Everything I do begins with one question:
How can we create greater impact?
Whether helping a nonprofit strengthen its strategy, inspiring an audience from the stage, mentoring young storytellers, producing films that challenge perceptions, hosting meaningful conversations through the Leaders in the Spotlight podcast, or writing books that encourage children and adults to dream bigger, every opportunity is another chance to create lasting change. I believe leadership isn’t measured by titles, accomplishments, or recognition. It’s measured by the lives we influence, the opportunities we create, and the legacy we leave
behind.
My mission is simple:
Helping people and organizations dream beyond limits and transform purpose into meaningful and lasting impact through leadership, storytelling, innovation, and service.
Because at the end of the day…Success isn’t measured by what we accomplish. It’s measured by the impact we leave behind.
“No individual has any right to come into the world and go out of it without leaving behind him distinct and legitimate reasons for having passed through it.” George Washington Carver
TEDxInglewood
About Tige
Tige Charity (pronounced TIE-jee) is a native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana who now resides in
Los Angeles, California with her husband, actor Antonio D. Charity and their daughter, Ebony
Jewel Charity. She is the oldest daughter of Michael & Wilma Johnson. She has one sister,
Melanie Johnson Spry, of MK Beauty.
For nearly two decades, Tige Charity has turned foster youths’ stories into their strength. A wife,
mother, transformational leader, woman of faith, and servant leader, she’s on a mission to
transform pain into purpose, purpose into opportunity, and adversity into achievement.
After moving to Los Angeles with her husband, actor Antonio Charity, Tige’s life took a
powerful turn during a visit to a girls’ group home where her husband was teaching acting
classes. “It cracked my heart wide open,” she recalls. That moment planted the seed for a vision
that would go on to reshape the narrative for foster youth in Los Angeles and beyond.
In May 2009, Tige founded Kids in the Spotlight, Inc. (KITS), a nonprofit that uses the power of
filmmaking and storytelling to help foster care-impacted and opportunity youth heal, grow, and
thrive. Starting with zero funding, she has grown KITS into a nationally recognized organization
with an operating budget of over $2.5 million. To date, KITS has worked with more than 1,200
youth and produced over 120 original films, including the feature-length documentary
Recovering Innocence.
Through KITS’ signature Script-to-Screen program, young people ages 12–24 learn to write,
cast, and star in their own short films under the guidance of industry professionals, culminating
each year at the star-studded KITS Film Awards before an audience of 500+ peers, celebrities,
families, and supporters. Tige’s vision extends well beyond storytelling: KITS youth are now
booking real industry jobs in front of and behind the camera — from a national Toyota
commercial to two national commercials for the 2026 World Cup airing on Telemundo — and
KITS alumni are being hired to produce content for companies, organizations, and federal
agencies.
In 2023, Tige unveiled KITS Production Studio with Purpose, a full-service production studio in
Van Nuys, CA that rents space to industry professionals and reinvests profits into job training and
workforce development for foster youth. Under her leadership, KITS also launched a U.S.
Department of Labor Registered Apprenticeship and built strategic partnerships with
NBCUniversal, Warner Bros., MBS Radford, the Hilton Foundation, USC, the Department of
Children and Family Services, and the Department of Mental Health, among others.
Tige is the author of Not Your 9-to-5 Girl, her memoir and manifesto for purpose-driven
leadership, in which she shares her journey through rejection, racism, and corporate
disillusionment toward a life fueled by faith, creativity, and impact — with proceeds benefiting
KITS. She is also the author of the children’s book Created to Do Great Things, which
encourages young readers with perceived disabilities and differences to embrace faith, resilience,
and their God-given potential.
As creator and host of the Leaders in the Spotlight podcast, Tige invites C-suite and community
leaders to share the highs, lows, and plot twists of leadership. She is also a TEDx speaker who
uses her platform to shed light on the realities of youth in foster care and inspire social
entrepreneurs, community leaders, and young adults to walk in their God-given purpose.
Tige’s leadership has earned national recognition, including the 2022 Foster Morey Awards’
Organization of the Year, NFL Super Bowl LVI City Champion, and a DirecTV Champion LA
Award recognizing KITS as a standout among 56 organizations in the Super Bowl LVI
“Champions Live Here” Legacy Program. In 2021, KITS youth performed in Ringo Starr’s “Let’s
Change the World” music video, and in 2022 Tige was a featured presenter at the 79th Golden
Globes. She is a two-time Los Angeles Times Inspirational Women nominee (2022, 2023) and
has received numerous additional honors, including the Ubuntu Award from The Africa Channel
(inspired by Nelson Mandela), the David Lieber Leadership Award from American Jewish
University, the California Black Women Trailblazer Award, and the 2025 Alumni Award for
Distinguished Service to Community from Oral Roberts University, among others. She and NBA
legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar were jointly recognized by L.A. County Supervisor Michael
Antonovich at the “All For The Love Of Kids” event, and she has been acknowledged by Los
Angeles Mayors Eric Garcetti and Karen Bass, Beverly Hills Mayor Lili Bosse, the California
State Assembly, U.S. Congressmembers, and numerous L.A. City Councilmembers.
Her work and story have been featured on The Kelly Clarkson Show, Entertainment Tonight, The
Ellen DeGeneres Show, NBC4, KTLA, ABC7, Fox News LA, Telemundo, and more, with press
coverage in The L.A. Times, Rolling Stone, Variety, The Washington Post, People Magazine,
The Hollywood Reporter, MovieMaker Magazine, Vibe, and Delta Sky Magazine, among others.
Tige holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Oral Roberts University and an MBA in
Nonprofit Management from American Jewish University. She is a graduate of the Annenberg
Alchemy and Annenberg Alchemy for Black-led Organizations leadership programs, completed
Chefalo Consulting’s Trauma-Informed Foundational Training, and has been a fellow in the City
Scholars Foundation’s CEO Leadership Program since 2017. She is a member of the Women
Presidents Organization and serves on the board of Vessels of Honor International Ministry.
Whether she’s speaking to the next generation of filmmakers, pioneering sustainable nonprofit
revenue models, or holding space for candid leadership stories on her podcast, Tige Charity is a
force for good — turning the spotlight toward those who’ve long been left in the shadows, and
proving every day that purpose isn’t a job, it’s a calling.
79th Annual Golden Globe Awards
