Sanela Diana Jenkins

After graduating with a degree in computer science and economics from City University, London, Jenkins acquired the swimwear line Melissa Odabash.^[2] In 2009, she created and launched the Neuro line of functional beverages based in Sherman Oaks, California where she is President and CEO.^[3]

Jenkins is the founder and CEO of D Empire Entertainment, a music label.^[4]

In 2021, Jenkins joined the cast of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills for the twelfth season. She made her debut in May 2022. In January 2023, Jenkins departed the show after only one season.^[5][6]

Jenkins and D Empire Entertainment produced Sevap / Mitzvah which was released in 2023.^[7] Sevap/Mitzvah won best short film at the Humanitas Awards in October of 2023.^[8]

Jenkins established The Irnis Catic Foundation in 2002 in memory of her brother who was killed during the Bosnian War. The foundation provides funding to the medical facilities at the University of Sarajevo. In 2009, Jenkins was awarded the Peace Connection prize by the Center for Peace and Multi-Ethnic Cooperation.^[9]

On May 5, 2018, Jenkins was honored at the Advisory Council for Bosnia & Herzegovina Gala in Washington, D.C. for her continued support and philanthropic activities in the country.^[10][11]

Along with George Clooney, Jenkins hosted an A-List fundraiser in Mayfair London in 2008 for the victims of Darfur, raising over £10 million.^[12]

Jenkins established the Sanela Diana Jenkins Human Rights Project at the University of California, Los Angeles in August 2008.^[13] The clinic concentrates on legal advocacy, political advocacy and documentation.^[13] Along with Richard Steinberg, Jenkins hosted the Sanela Diana Jenkins Clinic on Gender Violence in Eastern Congo. The Clinic has established the Restore the Village Project, a series of humanitarian interventions in villages affected by mass rape attacks, and is studying the effects of these interventions in order to determine how to best help communities in need and better understand the phenomenon of mass rape.^[14]

Immediately following the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, Jenkins and actor Sean Penn established the Jenkins-Penn Haitian Relief Organization to deliver hospital supplies and provide medical care to displaced Haitians. She compared the long-term recovery in Haiti to that in Bosnia and Herzegovina,^[15] highlighted the need for basic humanitarian aid,^[16] and argued that the U.S. military should not leave the country prematurely.^[17]

In March 2010, Jenkins posted bail for former President of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Ejup Ganić, who was detained in London on a Serbian extradition request.^[18]

Jenkins was honored with the Enduring Vision award by the Elton John AIDS Foundation for her activism in the fight against AIDS.^[19]

Jenkins produced a photography book entitled Room 23, photographed by Deborah Anderson. Many of the celebrities in the book are friends of Jenkins, including George Clooney and Elton John. Proceeds from the sale of the book benefit several philanthropic programs.^[20]

In 2022, Jenkins founded the Sunela Foundation with a donation of $100,000 for the victims of Lion Air Flight 601.^[21]

In 1999, Jenkins married Roger Jenkins who was an executive at Barclays Bank. The couple met at the gym at the Barbican, where he was living after the end of his marriage to his first wife. During their 10 year marriage, they had two children together, a son, Innis, and a daughter, Eneya.^[22][23]

In 2020, Jenkins welcomed a daughter, Eliyanah, with then-boyfriend Asher Monroe. The couple subsequently announced their engagement.^[24] Jenkins later suffered a miscarriage.^[25] In August 2023, Jenkins gave birth to a baby girl, Elodie Mae Book.^[23]