Nicole Lynn Lewis on Teen Pregnancy, Education, and Mentorship

Nicole Lynn Lewis is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Generation Hope, a nonprofit organization that surrounds motivated teen parents and their children with the mentors, emotional support, and financial resources that they need to thrive in college and kindergarten, thereby driving a two-generation solution to poverty. A former teen mother herself who put herself through the College of William & Mary with her three-month old daughter in tow, Nicole now works every day to change the statistic that less than 2% of teen mothers will earn their degrees before age 30. Generation Hope rallies around teen parents to help them earn college degrees and forge a path to economic opportunity and is now expanding its work with young parents beyond the D.C. region by sharing its best practices to help colleges and universities across the country better meet the needs of the nearly 4 million parenting students who are working toward their degrees.

Nicole is a member of the board of trustees of Trinity Washington University and a National Advisory Board member of The Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice. She has received various awards, including being honored as a CNN Hero and the national grand prize winner of the Roslyn S. Jaffe Award, and has been featured on major news outlets including “Good Morning America,” CNN, “NBC Nightly News,” and The Washington Post. Most recently, she was honored with the inaugural Black Voices for Black Justice Award, which “recognizes incredible leaders who have been on the frontlines working to dismantle the deep-rooted, racist systems that have plagued our country for centuries.” She is also a nationally known author and speaker with her next, highly-anticipated book, Pregnant Girl, to be released by Beacon Press in the spring of 2021.

Nicole holds a Master’s degree in Social Policy and Communication from George Mason University and a Bachelor’s degree in English from the College of William & Mary. Nicole and her husband, Donté Lewis, live in Maryland with their four children.

In this episode, we discuss the day Nicole found out she got into college and what that was like for her (5:26), why she was interested in journalism (6:38), where her drive to write came from (7:35), what her parents did for a living (8:05), getting her envelope from the University of Maryland (9:43), what it was like when she found out she was pregnant (10:31), how becoming pregnant impacted her identity as a high schooler, as well as some of the stigmas that came along with it (12:48), what emotions she would use to label what that experience was like for her (14:45), what her boyfriend’s reaction was (15:55), what her parents’ reaction was (17:12), who else influenced and impacted her decision, if anyone, to still go to college (18:52), why she decided to go to William & Mary (20:02), what the William & Mary experience was like for her (21:41), how she wound up homeless (24:00), who was supportive of her during this time (25:42), her tumultuous senior year of high school (26:40), receiving her William & Mary acceptance letter (27:38), what it was like on campus with a 3-month-old (28:49), what was driving her to get her college degree (31:27), if writing was something she did (i.e., journaling) at this time (32:38), what she thought she was going to do with her life after college (34:07), what her situation was like with regard to taking on debt and paying bills, and if that ever played a role in deciding whether or not to stay in college (36:00), how she was able to graduate as an Honor’s student (37:22), her first jobs after college and how she got started with Generation Hope (40:33), why she decided to pivot to non-profit work when she was doing very well for herself and her daughter in the for-profit world (44:06), what she has learned as she began running her own non-profit (47:40), how race plays a role in the work she does (53:29), why she is so passionate about fighting for pregnant teens to get a degree (57:14), what makes a great mentor, what makes a great mentee, and what she has learned about mentoring over the years (1:01:12), how she sees herself today (1:05:06), being a black CEO of a non-profit organization (1:09:55), and how she continues to lean into her gifts and her calling without intimidating people and instead fitting in and connecting with others (1:13:17).

You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram @NicoleLynnLewis, and you can also follow Generation Hope on those same platforms @SupportGenHope. Additionally, you can check out Generation hope on Facebook at facebook.com/SupportGenerationHope.

Thanks so much to Nicole for coming on the podcast!

I wrote a book called “Shift Your Mind” that was released in October of 2020, and you can order it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Additionally, I have launched a company called Strong Skills, and I encourage you to check out our new website https://www.strongskills.co/. If you liked this episode and/or any others, please follow me on Twitter: @brianlevenson or Instagram: @Intentional_Performers.

Thanks for listening.

-Brian