Nicole Lynn Lewis is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Generation Hope, a nonprofit organization that engages education and policy partners to drive systemic change and provides direct support to teen parents in college as well as their children through holistic, two-generation programming to ensure all student parents have the opportunities to succeed and experience economic mobility. Generation Hope 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 who put herself through the College of William & Mary with her three-month old daughter in tow, Lewis 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 nationally to help colleges and universities and policymakers across the country better meet the needs of the nearly 4 million parenting students who are working toward their degrees.

Lewis 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. Most recently, she was honored as a 2021 Luminary in Economic Mobility by The 1954 Project alongside four other innovative Black leaders in educational equity. She has been recognized with various awards, including being honored as a CNN Hero, being named one of 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,” and receiving the Boulder Fund award through Education Leaders of Color, which “supports the innovations of leaders of color in education.” She was 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. Lewis is also a nationally-known author and speaker with her critically-acclaimed book, "Pregnant Girl," released by Beacon Press in the spring of 2021, which was named one of NPR’s Best Books of 2021.

Lewis 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. Lewis and her husband, Donté Lewis, live in Maryland with their five children.

Teen Pregnancy, Authors, Overcoming Adversity, Education Women, Education Industry, Public Policy, Motivational, Inspirational, Women's Empowerment, Educational Motivational, Girls Empowerment,