Kemba Smith Pradia Speaker Biography
Author, Criminal Justice Advocate and Inspiration for the Award-Winning Film, KEMBA
Often labeled the “poster child” for reversing a disturbing trend in the rise of lengthy sentences for first-time, non-violent drug offenders, Kemba’s story was featured on a variety of television shows and in several publications. The support prompted then President Clinton to commute her sentence in December 2000, after having served 6 1/2 years in prison.
Criminal Justic Advocate
Today, Kemba is a wife, mother, public speaker, advocate, consultant, and author. She has worked with senior officials at The White House, the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Members of Congress, and has led trainings for Federal and State Probation organizations across the country. Corporations such as Verizon, Traveler’s Foundation, Proctor and Gamble, Bank of America and Gulfstream have sponsored her speaking at events across the country. She has received numerous awards and recognitions for her courage and determination as a motivational speaker and advocate.
Appointments
In 2019, Kemba was appointed to the Virginia Parole Board by Governor Ralph Northam and served for over two years. In January 2022, she involuntarily separated from the State due to the transition of a new gubernatorial administration. Prior to her appointment, she served on the Virginia Criminal Sentencing Commission and held the position of State Advocacy Campaigns Director with the ACLU of Virginia.
Book & Film
She is the author of her memoir, Poster Child: The Kemba Smith Story and executive producer of her award-winning film KEMBA, now streaming on BET+. In 2024, Kemba was invited to be an Equity in Action Visiting Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania, while she was also leading an impact campaign launched along with her film.
Consultant and Keynote Speaker
Currently, Kemba is an entrepreneur and consultant. She continues to serve on the Board of Directors for Virginia CARES and Drug Policy Alliance. She is also a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., the NAACP, the National Association of Black in Criminal Justice, and Co-convener of the Justice Roundtable.
Clemency & Pardon
Granted clemency by President Bill Clinton in 2000 after serving six years of her federal sentence, Smith has since become a leading advocate for sentencing reform. On January 19, 2025, President Joe Biden granted a pardon to Kemba Smith Pradia after nearly a quarter-century.
Kemba Smith Foundation
Along with being an advocate for criminal justice reform, Kemba is the founder of her 501 (c) 3, The Kemba Smith Foundation. Ultimately, Kemba knows that there is a lesson in each experience in life, and she has embraced her experience, learned from it, and is now using that experience to teach others.
Kemba Smith Pradia Speaking Topics
Criminal Justice Reform, Mass Incarceration, Drug Policy, Mandatory Minimum Sentencing, Prison Reform and Reentry, Probation and Parole in the U.S., Felony Disenfranchisement
Kemba Smith Pradia, whose own 24½-year mandatory minimum sentence for a first-time, non-violent drug offense was commuted by President Barack Obama after she served 6½ years, offers a powerful insider’s perspective on America’s broken criminal justice system. She unpacks the devastating human impact of mandatory minimums, the war on drugs, mass incarceration, and policies that disproportionately harm Black and brown communities. Kemba highlights the urgent need for sentencing reform, humane reentry programs, fair probation and parole practices, and the restoration of voting rights for formerly incarcerated citizens, delivering a compelling call to action for policymakers, advocates, and everyday citizens to build a more equitable system.
Voting Rights, Social Justice and Advocacy
As a formerly incarcerated woman who regained her right to vote after felony disenfranchisement, Kemba Smith Pradia brings urgency and lived experience to the fight for voting rights as a cornerstone of democracy and social justice. She explores how disenfranchisement laws silence millions—particularly people of color—and connects restored voting rights to broader movements for racial equity, criminal justice reform, and community empowerment. Through her story of resilience and advocacy, Kemba motivates audiences to become active participants in protecting and expanding the franchise, turning personal redemption into collective power.
First-Year College Student Empowerment
Kemba Smith Pradia speaks directly to the challenges and triumphs of first-year and first-generation college students, drawing from her own experience earning a Bachelor’s degree while on federal probation after prison. She addresses imposter syndrome, academic pressure, financial hardship, navigating new social environments, and the unique obstacles formerly incarcerated or justice-impacted students face. With warmth and real-talk wisdom, Kemba inspires students to own their stories, seek support systems, set bold goals, and understand that their past does not define their potential—equipping them to thrive academically and personally in their pivotal first year and beyond.
Filmmaking for Impact (KEMBA Impact Campaign – RepresentJustice)
Kemba Smith Pradia, the subject of the award-winning short documentary KEMBA that sparked a national impact campaign with RepresentJustice, reveals how strategic storytelling through film can shift public opinion and drive policy change. She walks audiences through the making of the film, the power of humanizing people behind statistics, and how the KEMBA Impact Campaign is being used in universities, law schools, faith communities, and legislative briefings to advance sentencing reform. Perfect for film students, activists, and changemakers, this presentation demonstrates that anyone with a story and a camera can create measurable social impact.
The Power of Storytelling in Media/Social Justice
Your story is your superpower. Kemba Smith Pradia, whose personal testimony helped secure her own clemency and has since influenced federal sentencing reform conversations, teaches audiences how to harness narrative to fight injustice. She explores crafting authentic stories for traditional media, social platforms, legislative advocacy, and community organizing—showing how one woman’s truth, amplified strategically, can change hearts, minds, and laws. Attendees leave equipped to use their own voices courageously and effectively in the pursuit of equity and reform.
Overcoming Adversity
From a sheltered college student to a federal prisoner facing 24½ years, to a pardoned advocate, attorney-in-training, wife, and mother—Kemba Smith Pradia embodies radical resilience. In this uplifting and candid keynote, she shares the mindset shifts, faith foundations, and practical strategies that carried her through domestic violence, wrongful entanglement in the drug trade, incarceration, and rebuilding life on the outside. Audiences walk away believing that no matter the depth of the valley—addiction, abuse, incarceration, public shame, or systemic injustice—extraordinary comeback is always possible.
Kemba Smith Pradia Books
Poster Child : The Kemba Smith Story
Purchase BookKemba Smith Pradia Videos
Kemba Smith Pradia Speaker Testimonials
If experience is the best teacher, Kemba Smith is the perfect person to warn young adults about making costly, life-changing mistakes
- Salisbury Post |
Granted clemency by President Bill Clinton in 2000 after serving six years of her federal sentence, Smith has since become a leading advocate for sentencing reform
- Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly |
Kemba is a national public speaker talking to youth in particular young women about the drug laws, making healthy choices, keeping education a priority and the importance of counseling to prevent the school to prison pipeline that’s sweeping across America
- Hanover County NAACP |
Kemba Smith knows the effect it (restoration) will have on each person who has an opportunity to vote. Without the right to vote you can’t feel like a full member of a community, a member who has a stake in the system
- Elle.com, Elle Magazine |
