Kemp was born in Cascais in 1996. Her mother was German and her father was Dutch and they sent her for an education to the Deutsche Schule Lissabon.[1] She was brought up near the coast and surf of the west coast of Portugal. It was here that she took up surfing.[2] She had an elder brother and under his influence she found her love for surfing.[3]
She competed initially for Portugal but she did not find much support. The German Surfing Association were very keen to find an athlete with a German passport who had learned to surf from an early age.[2] She found her home among a mix of surfers who shared German nationality. She felt at home and her sex has not an issue as it had been in Portugal.[1] She began a three year wait and in 2020 she changed her sporting allegiance from Portugal to Germany. It was approved by the International Olympic Committee.[4]
In 2021, Kemp and the German American Rachel Presti [de], became the first German surfers to qualify for the Challenger Series of the World Surf League.[5] In September 2023, she won the German surfing championship title.[1] At the ISA World Surfing Games in Arecibo in Puerto Rico in March 2024, Kemp reached eleventh place and she and Tim Elter qualified as the German representatives for the Olympics.[5]
In 2024 she became the first surfer to compete for Germany at an Olympics.[2] She still lives near and surfs on the Praia do Guincho in Portugal.[3] The surfing for the 2024 Paris Olympics took place in Tahiti[6] and she had to travel 15,000 miles to get there. She surfed on the famed Teahupoʻo waves which were the strongest she had ever experienced. She signed a petition against the construction of a TV tower to allow broadcasters close ups of the Olympic competition. She was in two minds as the tower, which was built, gives the athletes more exposure.[2]