Short Biography

Ananda Lewis is an American television personality, social activist, People Magazine`s 50 most Beautiful for 2000. She appeared on [1] Ananda was one of MTV`s most popular veejays for many years, from the late 1990`s until 2001, when she left the network to host her own talk show, `"The Ananda Lewis Show"`.

Ananda Lewis was born March 21, 1973 in Los Angeles, California [2][3] She is of African American and Native American descent specifically of the Creek and Blackfoot tribes.[3] Her name "Ananda" means "bliss" in Sanskrit.[3] Ananda`s mother worked as an account manager for Pacific Bell, and her father as a computer-animation specialist.[3] Her sister, Lakshmi, is a physician. Lewis`s parents divorced when Ananda was two years old, and her mother moved with her daughters to San Diego, California, to be near her own mother.[3] Unfortunately, Ananda`s mother took an extended trip to Europe to escape the pain of her failed marriage, leaving Ananda and Lakshmi with their grandmother.[3] During her absence, which lasted less than a year, Lewis felt abandoned.

"It was like she nurtured me and carried me in her womb and then completely left."[3]

Lewis often fought with her mother while growing up and rarely saw her father, who had remarried. Lewis and her grandmother also frequently "locked horns" while she was growing up.[3]

Lewis struggled with a speech impediment, stuttering until she was eight years old.[3] In grade school she earned a reputation for outspokenness; her comments provoked her teachers` ire or, less often, their amusement. In 1981 Lewis entered herself in the Little Miss San Diego Contest, a beauty pageant, and won, despite being one of the youngest contestants.[3] During the talent portion of the competition, Lewis performed a dance routine, which she had choreographed herself, to Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney’s ballad "Ebony and Ivory." After her win, Lewis attracted the attention of a talent agent and began working in local theater productions and on television.[3] In fourth grade she enrolled at the San Diego School of Creative and Performance Arts (SCPA), a public magnet school, where she remained for nine years.[3] At the age of 13, Lewis began volunteering as a tutor and counselor at a Head Start facility.[3] Lewis was inspired by the work and decided to become a teacher or a psychologist, with the goal of helping young people.[3] However, Ananda`s family urged her to follow a more lucrative career path specifically law.[3] She majored in history at Howard University, in Washington, D.C., from which she graduated, cum laude, in 1995.[3][4]

Personal life
Lewis has credited her mother, grandmother, and sister for providing her with a positive, supportive environment. By her own account, as she grew older she felt increasingly upset by her parents’ divorce. In adulthood, Lewis has healed her rifts with both parents.[3] Lewis was a good friend friend of former singer Aaliyah before her accidental death..[3] She has six God children.

[edit] Early Career
Throughout college Lewis had volunteered as a mentor with the group Youth at Risk and at the Youth Leadership Institute.[3] She was considering attending graduate school to pursue a master’s degree in education when she learned that auditions were going to be held for the job of on-screen host of BET`s Teen Summit.[3] She states that the children she was working with that summer were the main ones pushing her to go to the

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