Shelly Tygielski is the co-founder of
Partners in Kind, a media and production company and
equity fund that focuses on funding, developing, and producing social impact entertainment, as well as the
Partners in Kind Foundation, its corresponding 501(c)(3) that is on pace to reach a $1 billion endowment by 2035.
Honored by CNN Heroes in 2020, she is a grassroots organizer, activist, and philanthropist whose vast experience in building social movements brings a refreshing take to how PIK evaluates projects and attaches robust impact campaigns to each entity. PIK is currently in production for over 20 social impact media projects, including a robust partnership with
TIME Studios, a
documentary with the Stanley Kubrick Estate (EPed by Leonardo DiCaprio) about the impact of
2001: A Space Odyssey, a
scripted sci-fi film co-produced by and starring Cate Blanchett, and a Broadway show about the life of Dr. Maya Angelou.
A former high-ranking corporate executive in Fortune 1000 and publicly traded companies, Shelly left corporate America in 2016 to focus on one of her passions: mindfulness. Her work has been featured in over 100 publications, including The New York Times, TIME Magazine, The Kelly Clarkson Show, and CBS This Morning, as well as being featured on the cover of Mindful magazine in 2019 and named one of the “12 most powerful women in mindfulness” by
mindful.org.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Shelly founded the global, grassroots mutual aid organization,
Pandemic of Love, which has helped match millions of people and has facilitated close to $200 million of direct aid. She sits on the executive board of the international humanitarian organization, Global Empowerment Mission, and is a bestselling author of two books,
Sit Down to Rise Up: How Radical Self-Care Can Change the World (2021) and
How We Ended Racism: Realizing a New Possibility in One Generation (2023) and the forthcoming book
Enough is a Feast (2026).
Shelly holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Miami and a Master’s Degree from Columbia University. She is currently pursuing her doctorate in Philanthropic Leadership at the Lilly School of Philanthropy at Indiana University, where she is focusing her dissertation on mutual aid and the democratization of philanthropy. She is scheduled to graduate in May 2026.
