Christina Lewis

Christina Lewis is a social entrepreneur and journalist. She is the founder and CEO of All Star Code, a non-profit education organization that attracts, prepares, and places young men of color in the branch of technology.

Christina Lewis
Born1980 (age 4041)
NationalityAmerican
EmployerThe Wall Street Journal (2005–2010)
OrganizationAll Star Code
Spouse(s)Daniel Halpern
Children2
Parents
HonoursChampion of Change, White House (2014)
Websitechristinalewis.com

Life and career

Lewis was born around 1980.[1] She grew up in New York City with her parents and sister. Her father, Reginald F. Lewis, was a pioneer on Wall Street and the first African American to own a billion-dollar company, TLC Beatrice International Holdings, in the US.[2][3][4] Her mother, Loida Nicolas Lewis, is a Filipino-born American businesswoman who served as Chair and CEO of TLC Beatrice after her husband died.[5]

Lewis attended Harvard University where she graduated in 2002 with a BA in history and literature.[6] After graduating from college, Lewis worked as a journalist for Court TV for a year, then the Stamford Advocate for a year, then worked for the Wall Street Journal writing about real estate from 2005 to 2010. After that, she started working as a freelance journalist and writer.[7][8]

In 2012, she published a memoir and biography of her father, Lonely at the Top, which explored her life and achievements in parallel to her father's.[2][9]

In 2013, she founded All Star Code, a nonprofit that teaches Black and Latino young men computer skills and soft skills over intensive summer sessions.[1][10] She initially funded it with money from the Lewis family office.[1] The program has also made use of corporate partnerships; the fall 2013 launch was hosted at the offices of Spotify in New York City,[1] Google has worked with the program,[11] and the 2016 summer program was sponsored by Goldman Sachs.[12]

In 2014, Lewis was recognized by the Obama administration as a "Champion of Change for STEM Access,"[13] and in 2016, the National Action Network honored Lewis as a “Woman of Power” for her work in the program.[14]

As of 2018, All Star Code’s summer program had graduated 290 students.[15][16]

Outside of All Star Code, Lewis has been an angel investor and has served on Hunter College’s computer science advisory board.[17]

References

  1. Hempel, Jessi (April 7, 2014). "A plan to get more black boys in tech". Fortune. Retrieved July 8, 2018.
  2. McCauley, Mary Carole (February 10, 2012). "Reginald Lewis' daughter opens up about growing up with her famous father". The Baltimore Sun. Trif Alatzas. Retrieved July 7, 2018.
  3. Walsh, Christopher (July 27, 2017). "Diversity in Tech the Goal". East Hampton Star. Archived from the original on July 7, 2018. Retrieved July 7, 2018.
  4. Matthews, Nadine (February 16, 2018). "PBS documentary profiles African-American business tycoon". Amsterdam News. Retrieved June 6, 2018.
  5. Helm, Angela (February 15, 2018). "Billion-Dollar Legacy: Reginald F. Lewis' Incredible Life Story Comes to Film". The Root. Retrieved June 6, 2018.
  6. "Christina Lewis, Daniel Halpern". The New York Times. September 24, 2010. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 6, 2018.
  7. "Christina Lewis". LinkedIn. Retrieved July 8, 2018.
  8. "Christina Lewis Halpern". www.33voices.com. 2012.
  9. Hyland, Veronique (January 26, 2012). "On Our Reading List: Christina Lewis Halpern's Lonely at the Top". Harper's Bazaar. Retrieved July 8, 2018.
  10. Gilpin, Lyndsey (April 19, 2015). "Christina Lewis Halpern: All Star Code founder. Youth advocate. Social entrepreneur". TechRepublic. Retrieved July 7, 2018.
  11. "How Google is addressing the tech industry's diversity problem". PBS NewsHour. August 2, 2015. Retrieved July 8, 2018.
  12. Wadhwa, Tina (August 17, 2016). "Inside Goldman Sachs' program to develop a new generation of coders". Business Insider. Retrieved July 7, 2018.
  13. "Christina Lewis Halpern". The White House. Retrieved June 6, 2018.
  14. "UniPro Summit 2017: "Persist"". UniPro | Pilipino American Unity for Progress, Inc. June 3, 2017. Retrieved June 6, 2018.
  15. Belton, Danielle C. (April 14, 2018). "How Physics Works and Other Things I Learned at All Star Code's 5th-Anniversary Celebration". The Root. Retrieved July 8, 2018.
  16. "All Star Code Raises Over $1 Million to Expand Stem Summer Program For Boys Of Color". Black Enterprise. June 28, 2018. Retrieved July 7, 2018.
  17. "Christina Lewis Halpern's schedule for Bloomberg Business of Equality". Retrieved June 6, 2018.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.