Deana [dee-nuh] Lewis is a queer, Black mixed race, cisgender woman who is pro-abortion, pro-immigrant, pro-trans rights, pro-liberation, and pro-receiving gifts/applause. She participates in the work of Love & Protect and Survived & Punished, two prison abolition collectives dedicated to supporting trans and cis women, trans men, and gender-expansive folks of color who are harmed by interpersonal violence and criminalized by state violence. Deana is also one of the founding members of Just Practice Collaborative (JPC), whose purpose is to build communities’ capacities to respond to intimate partner violence and sexual assault without relying on state-based systems. JPC with Creative Interventions just released a podcast (April 2025) that Deana hosts called Stories for Power.

Deana daylights as a Senior Associate Director at the Institute for Research on Race on Public Policy at the University of Illinois Chicago also known as IRRPP. We do rad work.

The First Time is hosted by Jenn Sodini. Executive producer is Bobby Evers. Assistant producer is Celina Dietzel. Podcast produced by Jim Mulvaney. Show recorded by Tony Baker.