Carpenter was born in England, the daughter and step-daughter of two medical doctors and former professors at Harvard Medical School. She is of Indian, British and Dutch descent. In 2000, she moved to New York City to attend Pace University. She graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Business Administration (B.B.A.) in business management.

She returned to BET in 2006 as an on-air correspondent and anchor where she hosted the network’s daily news briefs, news specials and reported on breaking news on 106 & Park, the channel’s highest-rated show. Her most notable accomplishments during this time include her coverage of the 2008 presidential election, providing political commentary and analysis on election night from the headquarters of Senator John McCain. Carpenter also played an integral role in BET’s coverage of the death of Michael Jackson in 2009. She reported on the event live from Los Angeles and anchored the network’s special reports, including the award-winning documentary Forever the King: A Tribute to Michael Jackson. Sharon spearheaded the launch of BET in the United Kingdom and produced its first news special, Beauty Blackout, about discriminatory standards of beauty.

Carpenter left BET again in 2010 and joined BBC News as a contributing correspondent for BBC World News America. There, she became the first journalist to interview Wyclef Jean for television when he announced his plans to run for president of Haiti in 2010, a story that garnered international attention. She also worked as an entertainment reporter for the PIX 11 Morning News on New York’s Tribute station WPIX.

In 2012, Sharon joined GlobalGrind, a pop culture website owned by hip-hop media mogul Russell Simmons. The website focuses on news, fashion, music, and politics from a young perspective. Carpenter was hired to enhance and expand the site’s video content. Her stories have received up to 3000 hits per minute.

Sharon Carpenter became an on-air personality for Diddy’s multi-genre, multi-platform music network, REVOLT TV in 2013 where she participated in the launch of the cable channel, hosting live news and entertainment programming. She has also done some guest correspondent work for the pop culture news magazine shows, Entertainment Tonight and The Insider.

Carpenter had a co-starring role on episode 2 of FOX’s prime-time hit show Empire (“Without A Country”) which aired on 30 September 2015. She played herself and the host of the fictional talk show Spilling The Tea with Sharon Carpenter. In her acting debut, Carpenter sat down with Jamal Lyon for a one-on-one interview on his personal and professional life. During their discussion, Jamal speaks publicly on his relationship with his boyfriend, Michael, for the first time. Later in the scene Cookie Lyon bursts in and interrupts the interview. Carpenter became a trending topic on Twitter during the airing of the episode.