Kemp had an initial plan to become a professor in literature with her degree but that did not suit her needs. She wanted a more collaborative career. She went on to land an interview at Vogue, to become an Assistant but did not land the job. She then strove to get a job for Entertainment Weekly and was questioning why that would not be possible. Kemp went on to land a position at Mademoiselle and worked at GQ for three years. She then left the industry and started writing for the J.Crew catalogue. Kemp's job at GQ landed her many good opportunities, especially getting offers from several TV producers asking her to adapt one of her pieces, on interracial dating, into a show. That never became materialized but yet this made her want to start producing for the small screen. At the age of 26, Kemp left Westport and went to Los Angeles, California to further pursue her dream as a television writer. There she garnered her big break by becoming a staff writer for the then-Fox hit series The Bernie Mac Show. She then began writing for other television shows such as Eli Stone, Justice and Beauty & the Beast before eventually becoming increasingly known for her writing of episodes for the CBSpolitical drama series The Good Wife. Her idea for what would become the first series she ever sold and pitched, Power, came about when she met rapper 50 Cent and executive producerMark Canton at a coffeehouse in Los Angeles. She thought up the concept of a guy destined to leave his life as a drug dealer behind him to become a successful club owner and businessman, and soon penned the script with 50 Cent and Canton alongside her, both serving as executive producers. The show was green lit by Starz on June 17, 2013, with an ordered eight-episode first season set to air the following year. In June, 2015, Kemp signed an overall deal with Starz for season three of Power. The show is one of the most watched original series on Starz, bringing in 3.62 million viewers.
Personal life
Kemp lost her father, Herbert Kemp Jr., in 2011. The first episode of Power was dedicated to his memory and he was the inspiration behind the main character James "Ghost" St. Patrick. Courtney and her family lived in Westport, Connecticut where they were one of few black families residing in the town at the time and suffered racial harassment. Kemp describes herself as having been a voracious reader in her youth with an interest in politics. When she was young, she learned Yiddish. She has a daughter named Charlie. Her ex-husband, a Senior Vice President of Business Affairs at Paramount Pictures named Brian Mawuli Agboh, filed for a divorce in 2016.
