(New Post) New Channel, New Beginnings – Closing One Door to Open Another

May 16, 2013 by

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In order to move to the next chapter of your life you have to open the door in front of you and be able to close the one behind you.

I can safely say that the last 2 years of my life have been a slow but steady preparation for me to get the place that I am in right now. Mentally, physically and spiritually ready to close and open the doors in my life.

I started my online journey as a “Wild Girl” and over the last 4 years I learned more than I could of imagined about the power of the internet, how to build a brand, business and friendship and what I truly want for myself. My years as a WILD girl were sometimes actually Wild but the good and the bad were all experiences that I needed and I am happy to have those years to look back on but I’m  more excited for what’s to come.  I saw my friend @LeonaJess tweet something the other night that hit the nail on the head for the stage that I am getting to, “growing into my wings” (and it feels good!)

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I told myself at the end of 2012 that I was no longer going to wait, or doubt myself or get in my head and hold myself back from anything that I wanted to do no matter how big or small, no more excuses! Life is too short to not live the life you want and I’m proud to say that I’m doing it! I wrote out a list of about 80 goals and I’m sure I’ll add some more but the start of my journey with these goals was starting a new youtube channel youtube.com/andrealewichannel) and then finally getting as much of this list done as I can! Like I said some of the goals are big and some are very small but all of them are to make me better, smarter, and healthier as a person. I hope that all of you will do the same, if you have a list of wants and goals go out and accomplish them and tell the world or at least tell me and we’ll inspire each other :).

 At the end of the day I’m still a “wild girl” at heart but I am saying goodbye to that chapter and eagerly opening the door to my new chapter as a woman! New Channel, New Chapter, New Beginnings! Thank you to everyone who has grown with me so far, join me on my new journey xo

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(New Post) How do you deal with an addict?

April 30, 2013 by

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I officially stopped drinking in late January of this year. I did it for multiple reasons, I was never much of drinker and I can barely handle more than 2 drinks of the light stuff so it felt like drinking was a waste of my time and to top it off I’ve witnessed the terrorizing effects of alcohol on people in my family and it’s turned me off to the point that I have no desire to drink anymore.

I’ve been dealing with an alcoholic in my family for nearly 7 years and I HATE it (I don’t like to use the word HATE but…) It’s been incredibly hard on myself and the other members of my family. We’ve dealt with it all, physical altercations, verbal abuse, theft, DUI’s, threatened jail time, multiple car crashes and walking on egg shells because pretty much everything causes this person to drink whether its good or bad. It hurts to have a person in your life that refuses to take help and is so trapped in their own mental state that they refuse to see anything else that life has to offer besides a bottle. Why do you feel the need to drink before a movie? A walk? Going to see your Grandma? Unfortunately the problem is bigger than you at that point, the hold is so strong that your decisions are so clouded that rational choices sound crazy to you!

My mom has been the strongest through all of this and has had to endure the most amount of pain as a result for her patience. Literally everyone has turned their back on her, told her to give up like they did and to worry about something else. But how do you give up on your family? Even if they constantly hurt you? How do you give up on someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing? A person who can’t hear themselves and unfortunately wakes up the next day and doesn’t even realize the damage that they’ve done to their family and most importantly themselves? Alcoholism and addictions is a serious disease and mental illness and the further someone gets in their addiction the more you see that their mentality is not like yours which is why they got to this place at all.

The easy answer is “send them to rehab” and yes we’ve tried but I realize going to rehab is like everything else in life, you have to want to do it, you have to want to change in order to get a change. I remember when I was 17 my best friend and I did a bunch of sessions with an amazing personal trainer, who gave us great advice and tough work outs but we literally got no results from her training because we didn’t care and we didn’t try. As soon as we were done with a workout we’d go to McDonald’s because we were hungry and figured the “workout” made up for the food we were eating. We were 17 and the concept of our metabolism slowing down was foreign to us. Crazy! 

When an addict looks in the mirror if they see a superhero and not a villain it’s very difficult to convince them that they need to change and that the person they’ve become is very ugly. So this is a post to ask you guys a question, what would you do? Or what have you done if you’ve dealt with addicts in your life? How did you get them to want to change their life? I’m truly afraid that if my family member doesn’t get the right help that his life may go to a place that I don’t even want to imagine.

– Andrea “begging and pleading for a prayer” Lewis

 

 

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(New post) How Courageous are you? Ask @mayasworld — inspiring

April 24, 2013 by

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This post is to celebrate my good friend Maya Washington aka Shameless Maya! I’m immensely proud of her, she’s one of those friends that I watch and admire like a mix of a proud mama and a genuine fan. It was exactly a year ago today that she started her youtube channel and journey of completely shamelessly promoting herself for 365 days and today she has 2 million views, almost 80,000 youtube subscribers, 19k instagram followers and an amazing amount of support from people all over the world. The girl has done good for herself!

As long as I’ve known Maya she’s been crazy talented, creative and beautiful. She wasn’t one of those people searching for who she was and what she wanted to do because she’s always been very comfortable in her own skin and has always been the epitome of a true artist with no limitations to what she could do from makeup, photography, interior design, dancing you name it Maya can do it and do it very well! I’m genuinely a fan of my friend.

I remember the conversations we had before she started the “shameless journey”, she was scared, she was worried, she didn’t know what she was doing or why but she did it anyway. I am the biggest supporter of “doing it yourself” no matter how scared you are because what people don’t realize is that when you truly decide that you are going to do it and give it your all, the universe puts you on its back and carries you so fast that you can’t even imagine getting off. The energy and the drive that opens up inside of you when you commit yourself to truly being who you are and getting what you want is so powerful that you don’t have the time to look back at your old life. Maya found that energy this year and rode the wave further than she could’ve imagined.

As I mentioned she’s always been an artist and in a true artist fashion she celebrated her anniversary by letting go of one of the many things that made her popular, she shaved her head!! My girl is ballsy son! Her hair is beautiful and many people started to follower because of it but she never let that become her “thing” and she refused to do it just because it’s popular the motto was always, “ok you like my hair? I’ll make some hair videos but that’s not all that I’m about”. In the words of Maya, “life is filled with so much color and there’s so much more to talk about than just hair”. It’s so true! Maya is one of my friends that I can talk to for hours and our conversations cover everything from hair, to God, our dreams, love, music, fashion, race and happiness. She’s got a vast amount of knowledge and now her followers will get a real chance to see that her inner beauty is even more stunning than her outer beauty.

Maya i’m proud of how far you’ve come and how much further you’re going to go. Long hair, no hair you’re just as beautiful and your courage is inspiring! Keep doing you boo! xo         

 

The big buzz

 

Day 1: Be Shameless

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(post) I am a new age feminist ….ladies can we do better?

April 23, 2013 by

Yup, I said it, I am a new age feminist. I love, support, pray for, and want to help as many women as I can. Don’t get me wrong I love men and I’m a strictly dickly kind of chick but right now at this time in my life I think women need some help.

I’m so tired of the image that I see and hear of the overly sexualized and the constant comparisons and competitions that fashion blogs and many other media outlets puts us all in everyday. And I’m especially tired of the media forcing us to make role models and idols out of reality television “stars” who are all women that are practically soul-less. The image they shove down our throats is that we should only care about money, trapping a man of a certain status, fame and wearing as many of the latest designer fashions that we can fit on our overly enhanced body parts. It’s sad, and this image doesn’t only effect women but it effects our men and the way they look, treat and feel about us. It’s no surprise to me that we’re in the middle of a rape epidemic, with the amount of reports you hear on the news and teenage girls being bullied into silence and committing suicide because of it. There is a loss of respect and value from both men and women. I always tell people how thankful I am that I’m not a teenager in 2013 because I don’t think I’d be able to handle the pressure. When I look on tumblr all I see is pictures of beautiful girls with luxurious hair, perfect bodies and distressed cut off jean shorts. I feel the pressure today to “look” a certain way and be sexy and the value on our bodies is constantly in your face and I honestly don’t think I would have done well if I was 17 right now.

With all that being said the images that we see of women today are too one sided. We need to see more women who are courageous enough to state a real opinion, to stand for a cause, to say NO to the image of outer beauty and YES to finding inner beauty. We need to show that there is more to us than just being able to “beat that face”, and that it’s not cool to be “ratchet”. Don’t tell me to bow down, pour it up and show me another way to body party and I don’t want to “praise” you because you dress well and have a big butt. I want to be inspired by what you do and why. I want to hear music that makes me feel good about being a woman and watch television that makes me feel proud and aspire to do more, be more and say more. I’m proud to be a woman and I want to see us all do better.

I was very happy to hear this song NOW my body can party!

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Thank you….What I learned from @indiegogo

April 21, 2013 by

I apologize for not writing this post sooner but after the last 40 days of social media over load I needed a bit of break from looking at my computer lol.

So back to our regularly scheduled program. Wow! We did it! 40 days, teasers and interviews, countless tweets, too many instagram screen shots and Facebook status updates and we hit our goal! I can’t describe how amazing it felt when I finally saw that number on the indie gogo page. I was overwhelmed, I thought I was reading it wrong lol. It was one of those moments when I said, “you like me, you really like!” lol.

From day one of releasing information about, “Black Actress” I received endless emails full of support from people who told me they were rooting for me, they wanted to help me and they were inspired by me. Those emails made me feel amazing and was the one constant source of inspiration I had throughout the entire indie gogo campaign. This campaign was tough, I have friends who have done crowd funding in the past and they all warned me that it’s a lot of work and very stressful and they didn’t lie. I’m not sure I slept for the entire 40 day of the campaign and to top it off I was doing a million other things during the campaign, I was filming another project that was full of night shoots so my sleeping schedule was all kinds of jacked up, I was dealing with health issues, a little bit of family drama and I was doing the pre-production for the show. It was a lot on my mind but at no point did I question the work load. The whole time, it just felt right, like it was the beginning of how busy I am going to be and how busy I want to be.

The most important thing I learned while doing the indie gogo campaign is who my audience is. I always thought I had a good idea but for the first time I felt like I actually saw and heard them, and really felt the support and presence of YOU guys. It was a real blessing to see the people who may have never tweeted me or commented on anything now coming out of the wood work to give what they could and asking people to donate and help make this series happen.

I realized during the campaign that our dreams are bigger than us and we should always strive to make them as big as we possibly can. Without you realizing it your dreams can connect, inspire and change life for so many other people. I had a long conversation with a woman that I idolize in the entertainment industry and I explained to her how for the first time in my life my dream felt so heavy that it was now pulling me instead of me  having to dragging it all these years. The simple shift in weight was subtle but so important to what I was doing, I was going in the right direction.

I think crowd funding is like your life on steroids. Whether you’ve been chasing your dream for 10 years or 1 year, you know what it’s like to need support and finances and man power and so many other things to just make a little stride to being closer to your goals. Crowd funding is everything you’ve already been doing and preparing but to the next level, you’ve always been had to be shameless and asking people to give you a chance and some help but now you have to do it with a time constraint. It’s stressful as hell and the epitome of being your most vulnerable as an artist and entrepreneur. But at the end of the day it’s worth it! It made me stronger, made me proud and made me realize that I’m not a flake, I’m not just talking out of my ass, I’m dead serious! I want this, I’ve wanted it my whole life and it doesn’t matter how long it takes me I’m going to have it. It’s important to confirm and remind yourself of who you are and what your goals are. Indie gogo helped me re-confirm my promise with myself and added one more dot to my journey. Thank you to every single person who wrote, tweeted, instagrammed, facebook’d, emailed, donated and supported “Black Actress” and my indie gogo campaign! Some serious big tings a gwan!! xo

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(New Post) A REAL conversation about Degrassi….#tbt

March 28, 2013 by




 

This post may or may not get me in trouble but, either way “the trouble” will ultimately be a big release and the deflating of the elephant in the room. 

I was very blessed to grow up on television. My longest gig was on the the show Degrassi: TNG where I had the chance to play the character “Hazel” for 6 seasons.  I had an amazing experience on Degrassi, I was a teenager on top of the world! I traveled, I met fantastic people and I started to develop a fan base, there wasn’t much more I could ask for….

Actually I lied there was a few more things I could ask for and that was mainly to get a CHANCE. In my 6 year run of being on the show I only had ONE major story line around my character and all the other episodes I was the token dose of color or a glorified extra. This experience was incredibly frustrating for me. I was on the show when I was just starting to recognize my own potential and let my imagination run free and so the last thing I wanted was to be stifled creatively on a major platform. Whenever I would talk to the executives about ideas I had or expanding my character in any way, it would always get shut down or pushed to the side. I worked on an album with Universal Canada while doing the show, to get out some of my creative frustration out and suggested to some of the people at Degrassi to let me sing and instead they made my character a “bad singer” lol. It’s easy for me to laugh at the ridiculousness of that now but at the time it wasn’t funny at all! I used to think I was crazy while being on the show because as much as I would be included in episodes and advertising campaigns it always felt like there was another force trying to shut me out. I ignored it though, tried my best to continue to plead my case for why I believed my character should be developed a bit more and continued to do my best on the show and be grateful for the opportunity. So many people had pointed out to me that as black girl in Canada it was great just to see my face on the screen and so I continued on.

Recently I had a conversation with a filmmaker in Canada who had worked with me while I was on Degrassi and he unfortunately confirmed to me the feelings that I had always had but never wanted to admit to. Degrassi had an issue with my race. He told me how the writers and producers had no intentions of developing the story lines of my character unless it was to enhance the story of one of their other white characters. They had some plans for some of the other black characters on the show but their ideas were only to cover the usual stereotypes that we see of people of color on television teen pregnancy, petty theft, basketball, broken family homes etc and he usually had to fight with them to think out of the box with those characters to not have them go down the road of the usual cliches. He told me to get them to do the one major story line that my character had was like pulling teeth and after a few more years of working on the show he had to leave because of the blatant hierarchy system that they had in place and he couldn’t work with people who didn’t share the same beliefs.

This conversation, hurt me but it didn’t surprise me. I knew I wasn’t crazy all those years and it sucks to think that there are people who think like this and treat kids this way but unfortunately this is the world that we live in. I’m always offended when I read or hear someone say “Hazel was my least favorite character” or “Hazel didn’t do shit on the show” I recognize that “Hazel” is not me and I shouldn’t take it to heart but it always stings just a bit because I know that “Hazel” and myself never got a chance to shine on the show for very ugly reasons.

TV land and the entertainment business is a tough place. Its sad to think that we still live in a world where we have to fight for equal rights whether it be for marriage or just to get a story line on a tv show. At the end of the day, I would’ve loved to see some things done differently while I was on Degrassi but I was still grateful for my opportunity because it helped me in many ways for my career.  The experience on that show has strengthened me and inspired me to keep fighting and working my damnedest to change someones perspective on women of color and it inspired a lot of my ideas for my web series “Black Actress”. No one said the journey was going to be easy and that’s what keeps it interesting, if I can learn to turn a negative into a positive I think I’m going the right way.

Don’t Forget To Donate  —> http://igg.me/at/blackactress

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Dealing with Betrayal…Am I able to get over it?

March 28, 2013 by

Of lately the word “betrayal” has been floating around in my head, I know that might sound really weird but that’s how my brain works. The idea was first sparked from watching the last episode of Scandal (which if you haven’t watched you REALLY should). In that episode one of the characters is having a very hard time dealing with betrayal and even though the person that has betrayed him has apologized and is trying  to make it better he just can’t get past it. Something about that moment struck a big chord with me and I couldn’t stop thinking about it. The more I let the word bounce around in my head the more and more sad I became. This week I’ve been feeling a bit like an emotional wreck and I can’t understand why so what have decided to do? Come to my blog and talk about it of course.

I have a few people in my life who I associate with the word “betrayal”. First I want to talk about just the word alone though, the definition says “to be false or disloyal” but the interesting thing is that we all have different levels of what we consider “betrayal” or being “disloyal” and that usually is where the problem lies. How my actions effects each person in my life is completely different which is why it is very easy to not understand why or how you’ve hurt someone or how they’ve hurt you. The people who have betrayed me if they were to be asked what they think they’ve done or if anything at all, their answer more than likely wouldn’t be the same as mine. But the thing I’m struggling with is how to get over the feeling of betrayal or do you ever?

When a relationship of any kind goes through a traumatic experience and there’s hurt and loss of trust, pain and weariness which ultimately leads to one or both parties feeling betrayed, what can you do to mend that feeling for yourself? I have a very hard time being fake, people think because I’m an actress I can just plaster on a smile and give hugs anytime of the day but that’s not true. If I’m uncomfortable and if I don’t feel safe there’s no faking it. I can’t hide how I feel and it will show in everything I do. I’m that person who’s acting really quiet all of a sudden and I need to leave early, that type of uncomfortable. 

But I’ve been asking myself, why do I still have that feeling of betrayal? Why can’t I shake it? I think it’s because I stopped feeling safe. I think that’s what the simple definition of “betrayal” is, the loss of safety. Your secrets, your truths, your jokes, your ideas, your heart, your love, your vulnerability no longer feels safe in the arms of this person. Even when you try to mend the wounds, try to turn a new page and start a new chapter you can’t because you’re different. You’re eyes are open in a way that isn’t good for the relationship, they’re open wider but your walls are higher the lock on the door is tighter and you don’t want to change it.

I’m struggling with the feeling of betrayal because I feel betrayed by people I loved and felt safe with and now I don’t. Will I get over it? Only time will tell but I think thats the only “cure” for betrayal; time. Taking time away, moving on and letting go of the feelings that still hurt you.  So tell me, have you dealt with betrayal? Did you get over it? How?

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Inequality for women, deportees & home again – A conversation with producer Jennifer Holness

March 26, 2013 by

I love Jennifer Holness and Sudz Sutherland! A film making married couple who are making some serious strides for people of color in Canada and shedding light on heart wrenching truths from the Caribbean. They have a new film in theaters called, “Home Again” about 3 deportees born in Jamaica but raised in Toronto, New York and London who have now been sent back because of criminal charges to survive in a land that they no nothing about. The film is very gritty and has a fantastic story. I was proud to be a Canadian – West Indian and watch this great film on the big screen and especially proud of both Sudz and Jennifer who put everything into getting this film made. I had the pleasure of speaking to them both about the film, life and the struggles of being a black person in film in Canada. Check out the interviews below.

 

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(video) Hustling and Confidence discussed by @ATWcurls & @missandrealewis

March 22, 2013 by

There’s only 25 days left in this campaign which means time is officially going to fly by! DONATE NOW!! This whole thing is because I want to change the game, do something great and finally put OUR faces in the spotlight, stop all the stereotypes and the lack of color on the screen and bring in the change that we all want to see in 2013!! Please, Please Donate to this project, I can promise it’ll be worth it.

Latest video is with my homie Antoinette Henry from “Around The Way Curls” she’s a blogger, a hustler, an actress and a singer and truly an inspiring person. We’ve had many discussions about not having confidence, living to your potential and following your passions as an entertainer. This industry ain’t easy but when it’s in you, it’s just in you and the best thing you can do for yourself is give it your all! I appreciate everything she says in this video and I can’t wait to see her win that Tony! Share your thoughts in the comments.

 

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(video) @Chescaleigh and @MissAndreaLewis discuss why they don’t like auditions

March 17, 2013 by

My homie-lover-friend Franchesca Ramsey aka Chescaleigh does it all! She’s a youtuber, comedian, natural hair guru, host AND an actress! She and I share a similar story in the fact that we do so much that sometimes people forget one of the main dreams we’re going after is acting! In the words of Franchesca, “you have to do other things to help you while you’re waiting for the “acting” to start” lol. Those words have never been more true, acting is a “hurry up and wait” type of profession with everything you do, from getting an agent, being on set, taking classes or going for auditions. I have a real love hate relationship with auditions that I’m trying to improve. I recognize it’s a necessary part of my profession but if I can skip it I will! Check out the latest video with Chescaleigh and I discussing why we don’t like auditions. #BlackActress What part of your profession could you do without?

Donate, Share and Tweet! http://igg.me/at/blackactress 

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