Shawna Camilleri
Shawna Camilleri is a nonprofit founder, community advocate, and grief support leader dedicated to helping bereaved parents and their families navigate loss with compassion and connection. Based in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, she is the founder of Keenan's Caring Konnections, an organization she launched following the loss of her son in 2018 to a rare genetic disease. After spending 196 days by her son’s side in the hospital, Shawna experienced firsthand the profound isolation that often follows child loss. Determined to create a space where grieving families could feel understood and supported, she founded the organization to provide free monthly meetups, coffee chats, guest speakers, and wellness-centered gatherings for bereaved parents and the people who support them. Her mission is rooted in a simple but powerful message: no one should have to grieve alone.
Over the past decade, Shawna has devoted herself to advocacy, nonprofit leadership, and community support work centered around healing and human connection. Through Keenan’s Caring Konnections, she has created judgment-free spaces where parents, grandparents, friends, coworkers, and extended family members can openly process grief and feel seen in their experiences. She recognizes that supporters often carry emotional burdens of their own without having resources available to them, which inspired her to expand support services beyond parents alone. Shawna’s work combines personal experience with compassionate leadership, balancing the emotional realities of grief while building grassroots programs that continue to grow within the community. She also shares reflections and resources through her newsletter, “Holding Space for Grief,” helping families navigate the day-to-day realities of loss with honesty and care.
In addition to her grief support initiatives, Shawna has spent years serving her community through philanthropy, mentorship, and advocacy programs. She is also the founder of Shawna's Basket Brigade Inc., an organization that has provided holiday meals and support to thousands of families and veterans in need throughout South Florida. Her background includes work in fitness, counseling psychology studies, youth mentorship, and nonprofit fundraising, including efforts supporting epilepsy and seizure awareness initiatives. Through every stage of her journey, Shawna has remained committed to resilience, compassion, and honoring her son’s legacy by helping others find hope and support during life’s most difficult moments.
• Aspen University
Counseling Psychology
• Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale
Associate's degree, Culinary Arts/Chef Training
• Executive Women of the Palm Beaches
• NYU Langone Hospital FACES (Finding a Cure for Epilepsy and Seizures)
• Ran 4 New York City marathons and 2 half marathons to raise funding and awareness for seizures
• School board member at children's school
What do you attribute your success to?
I really attribute my ability to keep going to my son. I can't speak for other bereaved parents, but I do feel like he would not want me to sit around and sulk and be depressed. I feel like this is a way for him to live on through me. He was very boisterous, and I feel like I would not be doing him any justice if I did not carry on his name in a way that could possibly help people. My aunt also said something very meaningful to me on the first Mother's Day without my son - she sent me a text message that said, 'Happy Mother's Day. You are still a mother.' That speaks more than what people realize. It reminds you that you are still a parent. While your child may not be here with you physically, you are a parent. And along with that, it's just knowing that you've gotta keep pushing, because there is a need for this, especially with regard to the supporters.
What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
To be able to realize personally that my son would not want me to be depressed, so I keep going for him.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Be ready for the rejection, but have a thick skin, and believe in yourself, and believe in what you stand for and what your mission is. Nonprofit work comes with a lot of rejection, so you need to be prepared for that while staying true to your purpose.
What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenges are balancing my own personal experience along with others in the group. It is a different type of organization, and people are afraid to have those feelings surface, and they can in our groups. Building something from the grassroots can be a challenge, and just making it known that we are here and letting people know that they're not alone. Grief itself is not linear, and building something that's rooted in that space comes with its own emotional weight. There's been the uncertainty of wondering how to grow something so personal in a way that also still feels respectful and is aligned with bereavement. Balancing my own heart and the structure of this has been probably one of the biggest challenges.
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The most important value to me is being able to be that support for others and realizing that people grieve differently. I want to create a space where individuals feel that there is a place for them and that they're not alone. There's no judgment in what we do. I also value the understanding that we're still mothers and fathers, whether we have other children or not - we are still parents even when our child may not be here with us physically. It's about carrying on my son's name in a way that could possibly help people, because I feel like I would not be doing him any justice if I didn't. I also value being very involved with my three young children and their school, as well as finding therapeutic activities like gardening, biking, running, and swimming.
Locations
Keenan's Caring Konnections, LLC
Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33412