About Nicole Lynn Lewis

Nicole Lynn Lewis

Nicole Lynn Lewis is the Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Generation Hope, a nonprofit providing direct support and national advocacy and research for student parents in college. The Generation Hope Scholar program 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, Nicole now works every day to change the statistic that fewer 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. Under Nicole’s leadership, Generation Hope’s FamilyU Seal received a Fast Company World Changing Ideas Award.

Nicole is a member of the Board of Trustees of Trinity Washington University and the National Advisory Board of The Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice. She has been recognized as a 1954 Project Luminary, a CNN Hero, a recipient of the Black Voices for Black Justice Award, the PARENTS Next Gen Award, and the national grand prize winner of the Roslyn S. Jaffe Award. She has been featured on major news outlets including Good Morning America, CNN, NBC Nightly News, and The Washington Post. She is also a nationally known author and speaker. Her latest book, Student Parent: The Fight for Families, the Cost of Poverty, and the Power of College, follows the success of her first book, Pregnant Girl, released by Beacon Press in 2021 and named one of NPR’s Best Books of the Year.

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. She lives in Maryland with her five children, who keep her inspired every day.