Dakota D. Lewis

Dakota Lewis

I was born into a family of 5, making it 6! I go by Dakota or any version of Koda.

I've always loved my name because it's unique and ambiguous to both gender and race. I think my name has shaped how I see the world, allowing me to circumvent racism in my educational and occupational experiences. I was naïve to this until learning about labor market discrimination. Additionally, I have three middle names, all after a relative of mine. I think this adds to the expectations my family has for me to find success, not for myself but for those who can identify with the many adversities I've faced in life.

Trying to search for my name and full name online doesn't yield many results other than my social media pages. It turns out "Dakota Lewis" isn't as rare as I thought, and since I never use my full name, there isn't much information online about me, other than what I post myself. However, I am OK with this, and I don't see a reason to have an online public image at the moment because I still have much to achieve, and I prefer to control the information available about me. Although, in the future, I doubt ill be able to keep this low profile with the goals I've set forth for myself.