(She/her) Shonali Burke is Managing Director of People’s Light; the first Indian American to run a U.S.-based LORT (League of Resident Theatres) theatre. Prior, Shonali served as Chief Marketing & Strategy Officer/Vice President and Interim President-Designate at Washington, D.C.’s historic Arena Stage.
With a head for data and a heart for storytelling, Shonali’s unique combination of right- and left-brain skills make for an extraordinarily strategic servant leader, whose innovative approach to audience development builds capacity, inspires excellence, and results in multi-faceted brand and revenue growth. She stewarded multiple sold-out hits while engineering Arena Stage’s dramatic post-pandemic earned revenue rebound, including the 2022 world premiere of American Prophet: Frederick Douglass In His Own Words, and both POTUS and Swept Away in fall 2023; Swept Away subsequently transferred to Broadway. This was Shonali’s second Broadway transfer; her first was Russell Simmons’ Def Poetry Jam, which made the leap to the Great White Way following its sold-out world premiere in San Francisco, winning a special Tony Award® in 2003.
Earlier, Burke ran a successful virtual integrated marketing consultancy helping purpose-driven organizations scale their impact, partnering with clients such as Oxfam America, the United Nations Foundation and USA for UNHCR. She was also Vice President, Media & Communications for the ASPCA at a pivotal time in animal welfare, transforming its brand through community-centric storytelling during the 2007 pet food recall and Michael Vick case. A 2021 graduate of the Harvard Business Analytics Program, Shonali is an alum of India’s prestigious National School of Drama, where she was part of the originating ensemble for Anamika Haksar’s iconic Raj Darpan (Mirror of the Raj), documenting how the draconian Colonial-era Dramatic Performances Act of 1876 policed what was deemed “seditious” Indian theatre. Shonali is owned by Pickles the Corgi, who pays her rent in lickies and snuggles.