Keisha Lewis is an American author, creative director, entrepreneur, and personal development coach whose work explores reflection, discipline, and intentional living through writing, art, and guided self-inquiry. A Black transgender woman born and raised in Philadelphia, Lewis is known for her memoir Life Is a Game of Chess, her metaphysical work The Temperature of My Mind (The Noise, The Silence, and the Voice in Between), and her ritual-based lifestyle brand R’homan Skin.
Her multidisciplinary body of work spans literature, visual art, product design, spiritual reflection, and community advocacy — all rooted in structure, ritual, and the preservation of self.
Early Life and Education
Born June 15, 1985, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Lewis was raised in the North Philadelphia section of the city. Her adolescence included time at Roxborough High School, Pleasant Valley High School in the Poconos, and later Harvey Milk High School in New York City — an LGBTQ+-affirming environment partnered with the Hetrick-Martin Institute.
Her early experiences navigating racial isolation, identity, ballroom culture, and mentorship shaped the emotional depth and observational tone that later defined her writing and creative practice.
Public Health & Advocacy
Lewis began her professional career in HIV/AIDS research and outreach with the Public Health Management Corporation (PHMC), bringing representation and lived experience to clinical spaces. Her advocacy and community engagement have included work with The Attic Youth Center, The Mazzoni Center, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), the Philadelphia Police LGBTQ Liaison Committee, the New York Anti-Violence Project, and the University of Pennsylvania LGBT Center.
She has also served as a grant reviewer for the Gender Justice Fund, supporting initiatives advancing gender equity and trans liberation.
R’homan Skin & Creative Practice
Founded in 2019, R’homan Skin is Lewis’s boutique body care and spiritual lifestyle brand named after her dog, R’homan. The brand merges scent, texture, ritual, and visual storytelling through handcrafted body butters, oils, soaps, spiritual mists, candles, and resin work.
Positioning body care as soul care, Lewis integrates neo-soul aesthetics, metaphysical symbolism, and intentional design — treating beauty as presence and ritual as resistance.
Beyond skincare, her visual work includes resin art, coasters, print design, and mixed-media pieces that translate interior experience into tangible form.
Authorship & Literary Work
Lewis writes across memoir, fiction, spiritual reflection, and poetic testimony. Her work often blurs genre boundaries in favor of emotional truth.
Notable works include:
- Life Is a Game of Chess
- Wicked Tongue, Wet Prayer
- The Imaginary Friend Manifesto
- The Temperature of My Mind (published as Dr. K.M. Lewis)
Her expanding catalog reflects distinct seasons of creative and spiritual evolution, exploring identity, memory, resilience, devotion, and transformation.
Ministry & Honorary Recognition
Lewis is an ordained minister through the Universal Life Church and holds honorary recognitions including Doctor of Metaphysical Humanities and Doctor of Divinity.
Her spiritual work is not rooted in traditional clergy leadership but in lived theology, ritual presence, and reflective authorship. Much of her writing and creative output functions as an extension of ministry — offering grounding, inquiry, and emotional clarity.
Transcended Truth
Lewis is the creator of Transcended Truth, a cultural interview series centered on long-form conversations exploring art, healing, style, and lived experience. Neither a conventional podcast nor personality-driven platform, the project functions as an oral archive where stories unfold without spectacle.
Mental Health & Care Work
Lewis’s experience in dementia care deepened her engagement with intergenerational trauma and caregiving labor. Following the murder of Dominique “Rem’mie” Fells, she was interviewed by The Philadelphia Inquirer, speaking publicly about grief, visibility, and the emotional weight carried by marginalized communities.
“It’s not just about therapy. It’s about being seen.”
Personal Life & Legacy
Lewis lives in Philadelphia with her dog R’homan, who continues to serve as companion and creative muse.
Through books, ritual objects, visual art, and conversation, she is building a living archive of structured thought and self-preservation — work rooted in remembrance, reflection, and becoming.
“I make balm for wounds, books for rebirth, and blessings for the overlooked.”
— K.M. Lewis