Today we’d like to introduce you to Vonora Lewis.
Hi Vonora, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
Sports and nonprofits have been my two passions. Everything that I have been doing has led me back to these two entities. My love for the sports industry started at a young age. I enjoyed running and cheerleading which followed me to college.
However, after an injury, I decided to shift my craft from playing to learning the business behind it. I know it is my calling to work in the sports industry, I just had to find my line. I started a chat on Twitter in 2017 where I just talked about sports and from there, I received my first writing job. After that first opportunity, I received several writing opportunities, then radio guest appearances, podcast appearances, getting my podcast, joining a network, to being the main host of the network’s sports and music show.
My love for serving the community might be my first memory. Growing up my mother worked for a nonprofit that served the Yonkers, New York community for years. She helped keep the youth safe during all the violence that was taking place in the New York City area during the 1990s. She would bring my siblings and me to her office and I fell in love with how she was making changes.
Once I lost my parents, my siblings and I moved in with my Godparents, and I noticed that the same mission for helping the community was still taking place. My Godmother and my mother had the same mission, they wanted a united community and to show the youth that they are more than their circumstance. I started my foundation to help children in Maryland know that the circumstances that they are experiencing are not the end of their story, it’s just the first few chapters.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I quote Steve Harvey every time I think about the road to success. Steve Harvey once said, “The road to success is always under construction”.
I will say nothing about my path has been a smooth road. I lost both of my parents before I was 10 years old, my teachers tried to convince me that I was not intelligent and I was going to be a product of my trauma, my guidance counselor told me to go to community college because I would waste my guardian’s money.
I have a speech impediment, so I was told that no one would ever want to listen to me or want to hear me speak. Launching my foundation created lots of financial struggles that kept getting in the way of launching the business. The obstacles go on and on, however, I just take each obstacle head-on.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am a project manager at a nonprofit and I love my job because I get to interact with the DC Community and I get to learn.
Always having the ability to be open to learning, will make me a better project manager. I am proud to say that I managed my first grant and all three of the projects that I managed are thriving. I left corporate America on hope and prayer. With that being said, I am proud to see that I can be successful.
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
From the sports side of my life, I see myself publishing several sports documentaries and teaching others how I created my line in sports.
From my foundation side of my life, I see myself hosting two scholarship fundraising gala’s a year, giving out five scholarships a year, helping more children in the community process grief, doing more TEDTalks on grief and mental health, hosting more events, and doing more publish speaking events on how mental health is affected by grief.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.thevlfoundation.org
- Instagram: @thevlfoundation
- Facebook: The VL Foundation
- Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/vonora-lewis-82214774
- Twitter: @foundationVL
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@mtmvpn
Image Credits
Ben Johnson of Graced Productions
