THP 30: Wes Lewis

Program: Technology Management
Current Position: User Experience Lead & Associate Management Consultant, Booz Allen Hamilton
Hometown: Upper Marlboro, MD
LinkedIn: Wes Lewis

How do you give back?
Since 2011, I have been a volunteer with the Make-A-Wish Foundation Mid-Atlantic Chapter. I serve as a wish-granter and as a liaison between the children and the Make-A-Wish office to see the wish through to its successful granting. Additionally, as a board member with the National Black MBA Association-Washington, D.C. Chapter, I aid in the development and promotion of scholarship programs, career expos, corporate spotlight networking events, and MBA student outreach events for professionals within the DC/Maryland/Virginia metropolitan area. Lastly, I am a member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc., an organization founded on the principles of brotherhood, scholarship, and service.

Who (or what) has inspired you and how has your life changed as a result?
As a first-generation American, my parents are my biggest inspiration - as a unit and as individuals. My father served in the Guyana Defence Force during the time of the Jim Jones Cult and subsequent mass suicide. He came to this country, made a decent living, returned to Guyana for my mother, a nurse, and came back to the United States once more to establish a new life in a new country with her. My parents raised me to be a confident, compassionate, and competitive person with a strong sense of self and a greater awareness for others. My parents arrived in the U.S. with less than $40 in the early 1980s and, on the rough days when I feel like complaining about office deadlines and homework, I replay their story in my head. Once placed in perspective, everything else simply seems insignificant.