Speaker Profile

Shani Hosten is Vice President-Audience Strategy in the Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at AARP. Shani serves as the national voice for AARP’s engagement with African American/Black communities through partnerships with multicultural organizations to drive AARP’s social impact.  She also leads the LGBTQ+ Audience Strategy Team at AARP where she develops innovative strategies and manages culturally and community relevant AARP offerings and programs that promote brand awareness and engagement. Shani and her team also serve as internal subject matter experts across the AARP Enterprise collaborating on developing social mission and inclusive strategies. 

Shani joined AARP in January 2016 bringing to AARP her more than 20 years of sales and strategic marketing experience in the pharmaceutical, hospital and consumer packaged goods industries. At Pfizer she served in a variety of marketing and strategy leadership roles, most recently as Senior Director and Team Lead of their U.S. Regional Customer Marketing team where she focused on multicultural health initiatives. She also worked in hospital sales at Eli Lilly & Co., brand management at Nabisco Foods Group, and was Director of Marketing at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital. 

Shani is a graduate of Hampton University with a B.S. in Marketing and earned her M.B.A. from Columbia University Business School. She serves on the Board of Council on Black Health, a member of The Corporate Board’s Council on Marketing Leadership, a member of the Reston (VA) Chapter of the Links Incorporated, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated (Life Member), Jack & Jill of America, Inc (Associate & Life Member) and several other professional and civic organizations. 

Shani currently resides in Sterling, VA (a Washington DC suburb) with her Husband of 27 years, Terence. They are the proud parents of two young adult children and their 7-year-old Labradoodle.