By Brian Pharies
Despite a life of personal challenges, Doctor Regina Lewis, Co-Chair of Communications at Pikes Peak Community College persevered through several degrees in higher education to earn her doctorate, become an executive coach for the Center for Creative Leadership in Colorado Springs, and found her own company, Regina Speaking, a presentation and communication resource for corporations and organizations who have need of executive coaching and training.
Lewis has worked with Fortune 500 companies and organizations the world over, but sometimes mourns that she didn’t follow her love of dancing.
“I would have been the next MC Hammer or Michael Jackson, for I could copy their moves to perfection,” she says.
Instead, Lewis served in the United States Air Force during Desert Shield and Desert Storm in the early 1990s.
Shortly after a divorce, she lost her ex-husband in 2001 when his plane crashed. Her son was 8 at the time and Professor Lewis struggled to raise him without a father.
Not having money added stress to Lewis’s life as she pursued her education, until a break occurred that made school easier.
“What helped us was a scholarship my son won on the Oprah Winfrey Show,” she says, noting that her son was one of 1,000 students picked from the million who applied to receive the award.
The scholarship allowed Lewis to re-start her education and allowed her son to continue his education in Colorado. Now, Lewis pays it forward with a scholarship she started that awards $500 to parents and their children who are “disciplined, dedicated and determined” about getting educated. She named the scholarship Action Pact after a deal she and her son made to each other.
Lewis lives by the words of Dr. John Hope Franklin, who said, “Many of us have the ability to obtain several degrees but few of us have the discipline to get one.”
Lewis’ son followed in her footsteps, graduating in the top 10% at the Air Force Academy. He is working on his MBA at Duke University, and then he hopes to teach at PPCC.
PPCC students describe Lewis as energetic and easy to learn from.
History Professor, Karen Wagner, says Lewis is an “incredibly enthusiastic person, and creates excitement in whatever project she’s involved in, and is as good a listener as a speaker, and knows how to make everyone feel valued.”
Chris Sandmore, Adminstrative Assistant in Communications and Humanities says Lewis is “off the charts” in the engaging way she relates to her students.
No doubt Lewis knows how to keep it real and have fun. In 2012 she won Colorado’s Miss All Natural Body-Building Contest, and she owns 350 pairs of shoes.
For more information visit reginaspeaking.com or email her directly at regina.lewis@ppcc.edu
