See Them, Hear Them: New CEO Aims For Media, Pop Culture To Drive Social Change
Nakisha M. Lewis is the new CEO and president of Breakthrough.org.
“What we don’t see, what we don’t hear, we cannot humanize,” says Nakisha M. Lewis, the new president and CEO of Breakthrough, a global nonprofit that uses the power of media, technology and popular culture to transform systems around gender, race, sexuality and immigrant rights.
““What we don’t see, what we don’t hear, we cannot humanize,” says @NakLew, the new president and CEO of @BreakthroughUS, a global nonprofit that uses the power of media, technology and popular culture to inspire narrative and culture change. #representationmatters”
“It is a powerful intervention to see how human rights and racial justice really play in our society,” says Lewis, a lifelong social justice advocate and former director of Civil, Human and Women’s Rights at the AFL-CIO.
“It is how humans work. We form our opinions about who people are, whom we like and don’t like from media and popular culture. These then become beliefs. Watching TV, watching movies, if we don’t see them as human, then when we encounter them in the real world, they are not worthy of respect.”
Read more in Take The Lead on pop culture visuals
Lewis is now heading the organization that for 20 years has had as its mission to leverage media and pop culture to drive social change through music, videos, video games, narrative fiction, comedy and other platforms, partnering with artists, activist and philanthropists.
“@NakLew is now heading @BreakthroughUS, the organization that for 20 years has had as its mission to leverage #media and pop culture to drive #socialchange through music, videos, video games, narrative fiction, comedy and other platforms. ”
As a Black queer woman, Lewis says, “At this moment, I see not only where I am in my life, but where the country is, as the time to shift narratives to shift beliefs. We are meeting people where they are—big screen, small screen—and changing their perspectives by what they have access to seeing.”
“As a Black queer woman, @NakLew says, “At this moment, I see not only where I am in my life, but where the country is, as the time to shift narratives to shift beliefs.” #representation #diversity”
The realities of stories across platforms is that not only are many identities absent, but many people are silent or mischaracterized, leading to tropes, misperceptions, bias and harm.
The recently released report, See Jane 2021: Looking Back and Moving Forward from the Geena Davis Institute on Gender In Media shows improvement, but not parity. Although in 2020 women/girls as minor characters jumped to 52.7% from 37.8%, there were no LGBTQIA+ leads/co-leads from 2016 to 2020 in the most popular programming.
Read more in Take The Lead on See Jane
In 2020, 40.4% of all supporting characters in popular programming were Black, Indigenous and People of Color, an increase from 32.2% in 2016. Also in 2020, 19.4% of leads/co-leads were disabled characters, an increase from 2016 when there were no disabled leads/co-leads. For all years analyzed, less than 10% of lead/co-lead characters in popular programming had a large body type.
The Washington Post recently reported that a few new Netflix offerings starring teenage Black girls are heralding a change.
“Say hello to Puleng, Fikile, Wendy, Rue, Julien and Zoya. They are the characters riding a new wave of teen TV told from the oft-ignored point of view of Black girls. The shift isn’t seismic yet, but it is a change deeply felt for both those behind the scenes and audiences watching at home.”
“’The conversation has shifted,’ Joshua Safran, creator of the new ‘Gossip Girl,’ tells the Washington Post. ‘We are looking at the perspectives of BIPOC in these spaces,’ referring to those who are Black, Indigenous and people of color.”
Breakthrough’s mission aligns with Take The Lead’s mission of gender and racial parity in leadership across all sectors and industries, and both share a history and future of intentionally increasing representation of all those identifying as women.
“@BreakthroughUS ‘s mission aligns with @Takeleadwomen ‘s mission of gender and racial #parity in #leadership across all sectors and industries, and both share a history and future of intentionally increasing #representation of all those identifying as women. ”
This is why Lewis’ organization is particularly relevant and significant now. Lewis has had a lifetime of personal and professional social justice advocacy, starting as she was growing up in Boston. For a time, houseless with her mother, she saw her mother act as an advocate for fair housing in communities and it inspired her.
“My mother was an organizer, a pillar of organizing around housing rights as we were struggling with houselessness,” Lewis says.
As a student at Drexel University studying anthropology and sociology, Lewis also ran a drop-in center in Philadelphia for an LGTBQ organization before graduating in 2006. After graduation, she went to work for The Schott Foundation, first as a program associate then working up to create grant making for girls’ equity programs locally then nationally.
“That is the genesis in organizing that was all through my adulthood,” she says.
Moving to New York in 2014, Lewis helped to found and create a philanthropic movement to invest in girls of color, called the Why We Can’t Wait Campaign. The murder of Mike Brown in Ferguson, Mo. “changed the landscape of organizing,” Lewis says.
“Moving to New York in 2014, @NakLew helped to found and create a philanthropic movement to invest in #girlsofcolor, called the #WhyWeCan’tWait Campaign. The murder of #MikeBrown in Ferguson, Mo. “changed the landscape of #organizing,” Lewis says. ”
She became a lead organizer in Black Lives Matter NYC and an integral part of the Movement for Black Lives and worked as senior strategist for safety at the Ms. Foundation for Women. At Ms., her work “centered on Black women, girls and who gets to be seen in the gaze of womanhood, what are the benchmarks for safety and conditions and who is in the crosshairs of race and gender,” Lewis says.
Moving to Washington, D.C. in 2017, Lewis became involved in political organizing and policy initiatives moving “the arc of storytelling from protest into campaigns,” she says, encouraging young Black women to become involved in the political process with the “Black & Engaged” project.
Read more in Take The Lead on women in power in Congress
“That got me thinking,“ Lewis says. “What more can I do? That is the thread of my life. It’s going to take some of us to do the ugly, difficult work in hard places.”
The death of Sandra Bland at the hands of police was a watershed moment for Lewis, who says, “It hit home for me. We were both college-educated, middle class, sorority sisters, same age, had a job at a foundation, and her profile left it could be me.”
“The death of #SandraBland at the hands of police was a watershed moment for @NakLew, who says, “It hit home for me. We were both college-educated, middle class, sorority sisters, same age, had a job at a foundation, and her profile left it could be me.” #BlackLivesMatter”
That prompted her efforts in organizing politically and she was part of the foundation for the Congressional Caucus on Black Women & Girls, founded in 2016 by Congresswomen Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12), Robin Kelly (IL-02) and Yvette D. Clarke (NY-09). Still in operation, it is “the first caucus devoted to public policy that eliminates the significant barriers and disparities experienced by Black women.”
Read more in Take The Lead on more WOC in Congress
In 2018, Lewis went to work for the AFL-CIO. “It was great work and as an organizer I did not have experience with labor.” But the tirelessness of the “rank and file who ring every doorbell and make every phone call” inspired her.
The next few years took its toll, Lewis says. “Like many people working in the belly of politics, I was exhausted. During this pandemic, as a Black person, it took a toll.”
The opportunity at Breakthrough is perfectly suited to her energy, her identity and her history and came at a perfect time in her life.
“As a Black person, we’ve been telling stories forever. Storytelling is how we do the work. Representation is the vehicle and media is where we get to interrogate culture.”
““As a Black person, we’ve been telling stories forever. #Storytelling is how we do the work. #Representation is the vehicle and media is where we get to interrogate culture.” —@NakLew, president and CEO of @BreakthroughUS. ”
Read more in Take The Lead on women in Hollywood representation
Nodding to the role of popular culture in her work and her life, and the serendipitous way she arrived at Breakthrough, Lewis says, “We found each other in a rom-com kind of way, but this is definitely the role for me. It is the core of who I am.”
“Nodding to the role of popular culture in her work and her life, and the serendipitous way she arrived at @BreakthroughUS, @NakLew says, “We found each other in a rom-com kind of way, but this is definitely the role for me. It is the core of who I am.” #activist #femaleCEO”
In honor of Giving Tuesday, it is helpful to acknowledge and support the efforts of Take The Lead to advance toward gender and racial equity in leadership across all industries. Take The Lead’s Partner for Parity program specifically addresses this movement, at a time when women’s philanthropy is growing with the intention of being part of the pandemic recovery —shecovery—solution. Take The Lead prepares, develops, inspires, and propels all women of all diversities and intersectionalities to take their fair and equal share of leadership positions across all sectors by 2025. You can be a part of Take The Lead’s efforts and positive outcomes by donating this Giving Tuesday.
