Nakisha M. Lewis

Nakisha M. Lewis is the Senior Strategist for Safety at the Ms. Foundation for Women where she overseas program design and grantmaking for the Safety portfolio. She is a thought leader in the field of philanthropy and specializes in developing grantmaking strategies that address racial, gender and educational inequities. Nakisha has worked extensively with individual donors and foundations to foster grantmaking that seeks to support, empower and strengthen marginalized communities – including her most recent work as co-creator of the Philanthropic Action for Racial Justice – an effort to organize Black philanthropic practitioners around a shared vision for racial justice and investment in Black communities that centers the needs and experiences of Black women, youth and LGBTQ people.

Nakisha’s career and community engagement are driven by an unwavering passion for civil rights and justice. She is a longtime advocate for racial and gender equity who has spent more than a decade supporting youth and grassroots organizing across movements. She has worked on a range of justice issues, from education and fair housing to welfare and workers’ rights and is currently an organizer with Black Lives Matter NYC. She is a leadership development coach and through her work with Standing in Our Power - an intergenerational network of women of color leaders seeking to transform social movements and organizations – Nakisha facilitates transformational leadership retreats for women of color.

Nakisha serves on the board of Resource Generation and New York Blacks in Philanthropy. She is a Connecting Leaders Fellow with the ABFE: A Philanthropic Partnership for Black Communities and is committed to developing opportunities for increased diversity and inclusion in philanthropy by advancing the next generation of social change leadership. She is published in several philanthropic and nonprofit journals including the Chronicle of Philanthropy, Dropout Nation and the National Caucus of Black State Legislators. She has also appeared on CNN, Huffington Post Live, RTV and BK Media Live.

Nakisha lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.