A Powerful Conversation with Keona Lewis, Ph.D.

12:00 PM ET Tue., Mar. 25, 2025

Given that demographers estimate that the United States will be a majority-minority country by 2048, what does that mean for the changing face of leadership? Angela Logan, Ph.D., St. Andre Bessette Academic Director of the Master of Nonprofit Administration Program at the Mendoza College of Business and Keona Lewis, Ph.D., assistant provost for academic diversity and inclusion and assistant professor of the practice in the Institute for Social Concerns at the University of Notre Dame, sit down for a fireside chat about a new framework of business leadership and how Lewis works to foster an academic environment where faculty and staff feel a strong sense of belonging and respect.

This event continues the ThinkND series Powerful Conversations where Logan and Black women who lead organizations will discuss the importance of race, gender, and faith to the work of leadership. Powerful Conversations is co-sponsored by Mendoza College of Business, the Office of the Provost, the Office of Institutional Transformation, the Notre Dame Initiative on Race and Resilience, Notre Dame Research, and the Black Alumni of Notre Dame.

To register to receive emails about this event and others in the ThinkND Powerful Conversations series, please visit our registration page.

In this deeply grounded conversation, Dr. Keona Lewis spoke with clarity and conviction about the realities of leadership, identity, and institutional transformation. Hosted by Dr. Angela Logan as part of the Powerful Conversations series, the dialogue moved beyond surface-level DEI narratives and into the lived complexity of leading with purpose.

Lewis traced her path from classroom teacher to assistant provost, framing her leadership not as ambition but as service shaped by faith, legacy, and self-awareness. She challenged the idea that leadership must be performative or self-sacrificing, insisting instead on sustainable, principled presence. Her remarks underscored a consistent theme: leadership grounded in authenticity is inseparable from community, transparency, and accountability.

Throughout the conversation, Lewis returned to the spiritual and ancestral foundations that inform her work. Faith, for her, is not abstract—it is daily, practiced, and disciplined. It shapes how she leads, how she navigates loss, and how she balances personal wholeness with public responsibility. Her use of the West African concept of Sankofa—the act of going back to retrieve what was lost—framed justice work as inherently historical and communal. One cannot move forward ethically without honoring the past.

Lewis also spoke with precision about the emotional toll of representation. Institutions often celebrate diversity rhetorically while failing to create cultures of care and reciprocity. She warned against environments that celebrate visible difference but rely on invisible labor, urging leaders to recognize when “belonging” is conditional and when presence is mistaken for inclusion.

This was not a conversation about aspiration—it was about alignment. Lewis’s voice was steady and unflinching, offering not inspiration for its own sake, but a model of integrity that holds space for truth, legacy, and growth. Her leadership framework—rooted in story, structure, and spirit—invites institutions to ask a harder question: not how many voices are at the table, but whose humanity is honored once they arrive.

Leadership as Overflow | [00:22:00 → 00:23:00]
Lewis never pursued leadership for its own sake—it emerged as a natural extension of love, clarity, and service.

Faith as Fuel | [00:04:00 → 00:04:45]
Scripture and spiritual practice ground Lewis in her work. For her, faith is not abstract—it’s a daily decision.

Belonging over Optics | [00:10:00 → 00:12:15]
Lewis speaks against tokenism and surface-level inclusion, urging institutions to center humanity and identity in real ways.

Soulful Sustainability | [00:16:00 → 00:19:00]
Leadership requires emotional balance. Lewis urges listeners to honor their own needs as much as they serve others.

Truth-Telling Community | [00:26:45 → 00:28:15]
Beloved community requires truth, accountability, and the courage to be fully seen—and to fully see others.

Legacy as Compass | [00:31:25 → 00:32:45]
Sankofa reminds us: the work of justice must always be rooted in remembrance. Our ancestors fuel our forward motion.

Faith in Action: “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. But faith without works is dead. So while we hope, while we pray, we also have to do the work. And for me, that’s part of the calling.”
— Dr. Keona Lewis [00:04:05 → 00:04:30]
Emotional Balance: “I had to learn that you can’t keep pouring into others without pouring into yourself. Don’t forget to drink while you pour—that’s how you stay grounded and whole while doing hard work.”
— Dr. Keona Lewis [00:16:00 → 00:16:15]
Leadership Emergence: “I didn’t go out chasing titles. I just kept doing work that mattered to me—work I felt called to. And eventually, people saw the value in it. Then they saw the value in me.”
— Dr. Keona Lewis [00:22:30 → 00:22:50]
Against Categorization: “I don’t want to be put in a box—I don’t think anyone does. We need to stop forcing people into predefined categories and start allowing them to become who they were truly created to be.”
— Dr. Keona Lewis [00:11:45 → 00:12:00]
Shared Responsibility: “This isn’t something one person can do alone. It’s our job—together—to create the community we want. A beloved community where truth is welcome, and everyone belongs.”
— Dr. Keona Lewis [00:27:15 → 00:27:45]
Ancestral Grounding: “I carry my history with me. There is no me without the people who came before me. That legacy—of resilience, of sacrifice, of love—that’s what gives me strength to lead.”
— Dr. Keona Lewis [00:31:30 → 00:31:45]

A Powerful Conversation with Keona Lewis, Ph.D.

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