NICOLE
Nicole Lynn Lewis is an author, social entrepreneur, and speaker. As a teen mother, she put herself through the College of William & Mary, starting as a freshman when her daughter was just three months old. Despite periods of homelessness, going without heat in the winter, and making tough decisions between diapers and text books, she graduated in four year with High Honors and her daughter in two, defying the odds. She went on to earn her Master of Public Policy in 2006, and in 2019, she was given an honorary doctorate from Trinity Washington University. In 2010, Nicole founded a nonprofit organization, Generation Hope, which helps teen parents become college graduates while also helping their children enter kindergarten at higher levels of school readiness. This innovative two-generation model — inspired by her own journey — has earned national recognition, including being named a CNN Hero and the grand prize winner of the Roslyn S. Jaffe Award.