Oak Cliff resident and 51-year-old grandmother Yolanda Lewis recently graduated from UNT Dallas with a business degree.
Lewis was born in New Orleans, Louisiana and grew up in Dallas where she graduated from Roosevelt High School.
Lewis put college on pause years ago when she spent her late teens and early 20s becoming a mom to three kids (in four years), but her grandson inspired her to jump back in and finish what she started.
“I wanted to better myself because I didn’t get to go finish school when I was younger,” Lewis said. “I had my first daughter when I was a teenager, so I stopped going to school and took care of her.”
Going back to school was nerve-racking for Lewis, but she said the positive environment at UNT Dallas helped her feel like she belonged.
“When I got on campus and I looked around and it’s like everybody — I felt like I was old enough to be their mama,” Lewis said. “But as days went on and months went on, I grew into it, and I felt like I belonged, and everybody treated me as if I was one of them. No one treated me differently. So it was a it was a positive experience.”
She started in biology, but pivoted to supply chain and marketing management after a positive experience working at Amazon. She hopes to get a position with Dallas’ International Inland Port.
Dr. Sabrina Hodge, Executive Director of Trailblazer Elite and the Dr. Emmett J. Conrad Leadership Program, helped Lewis along her journey and through switching majors.
“(Yolanda) is not your traditional student, but she had the perseverance and the persistence to keep going,” Hodge said. “Seeing the things that she went through, and just being able to have a conversation with her, and she still stay positive through it all, and it’s why I do what I do for students on a daily basis.”
Her children and grandchildren are a main source of inspiration for Lewis, and she wanted to show them that it’s never too late to go back to school and get an education.
“Don’t let your fear, you know, overcome your accomplishments, because that was my thing. It was a fear of failure, a failure of not a fear of not belonging, and a fear of whether or not I was making the right decision at the time,” Lewis said. “There were plenty of times when I wanted to stop and not do it, because I felt like I wasn’t doing as well as I expected myself to do. Never be afraid to ask for help, and don’t be afraid to go for your dream.”
