Actress, activist, and author Jenifer Lewis, celebrated as a St. Louis legend by way of Kinloch, delivered a heartfelt and humorous address to the Brown School Class of 2025 at Washington University in St. Louis on Saturday.
She urged graduates to prioritize their mental health, lead with love, and avoid getting “stuck in traffic.”
On May 12, the university awarded her an honorary doctorate. The actress was bestowed the honor of Doctor of Fine Arts.
Lewis, known as “The Mother of Black Hollywood” for her decades of work from “Black-ish” to Broadway, spoke at the Washington University Brown School’s Recognition Ceremony on the Danforth Campus.
She has long used her platform to champion mental health awareness, inclusion, and belonging, urging others to live boldly and unapologetically as their true selves. Lewis shared her personal journey with mental health, revealing her 1991 “nervous breakdown” during the AIDS epidemic. “That very day, I got up off the floor and somehow, I found the courage to dig down deep into my soul to say three of the most powerful words on planet Earth: ‘I need help,” Lewis told the crowd.
Diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 1992, Lewis recounted her initial reluctance towards therapy, using a traffic metaphor to illustrate her avoidance of difficult topics. Recalling her first session, Lewis joked, “I repeatedly told my therapist I was late for the appointment because of traffic, until finally shouting, ‘Because I don’t want to talk about my childhood.’
From then on, I think she scheduled her personal therapy sessions right after mine” (Washington University in St. Louis, 2025). She advised the graduates, “Do everything in your power not to get stuck in traffic — be it a plane, train, Uber or scooter,” encouraging self-reflection. “Ask yourself: Who is stuck? Who wants a fast fix? Who is hoping for a shortcut to greatness?” Lewis also spoke of a harrowing fall in Tanzania in 2022 that resulted in a fractured hip socket, requiring extensive surgery and recovery. “Lying in bed forced me to become an observer of life, a human being as opposed to a human doing,” she reflected.
A two-time author and passionate community activist, Lewis returned to her hometown and received her honorary doctorate from WashU during the university’s commencement ceremony.
She concluded her speech with a message of resilience and purpose. “Self-care is always first, so that your mind, body and spirit will be aligned to walk through come what may,” Lewis stated. “All things occur for the purpose of enlightenment. No matter where you go, lead with love and let your light shine — and last but certainly not least, please leave an hour early and don’t get stuck in traffic.”
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