Dr. Jokima Hiller-Lewis

SPEAKER TOPICS & TAGS

Our speaker believes that how we make people feel matters.

Dr. Jokima Hiller-Lewis is an award-winning educator, hospitality professional, author, researcher, entrepreneur, speaker, and disability advocate with more than three decades of experience in hospitality, business, and higher education.

A right leg above-the-knee amputee, she combines professional expertise, research, and lived experience to speak about resilience, disability inclusion, accessible hospitality, and compassionate leadership.

She is the creator of The Care Standard™, has authored and co-authored several books, and was named one of the 100 Most Influential Educators in Global Hospitality in 2026.

Her message reminds us that the things that make us different do not have to limit us. In fact, “My Difference Is My Power.”

With more than three decades of experience spanning hospitality, business, entrepreneurship, and higher education, Dr. Hiller-Lewis has built her career around one defining question: “How do you make people feel?” That question became the foundation for The Care Standard™, her leadership philosophy that challenges organizations and leaders to recognize intentional care not simply as a kind gesture, but as a powerful strategy for strengthening workplace culture, employee engagement, and organizational performance.

Her professional journey began at age fifteen with her first hotel position. She went on to build a career encompassing hotel operations, entrepreneurship, consulting, leadership development, research, and higher education. Today, she brings those experiences into the classroom as a professor, preparing future business and hospitality professionals to lead with competence, integrity, compassion, and purpose.

Dr. Hiller-Lewis earned her bachelor’s degree in Restaurant, Hotel, Institutional, and Tourism Management from Purdue University Northwest, an MBA from Keller Graduate School of Management, and a Ph.D. in Hospitality Management from Iowa State University. Her research interests include social intelligence in hospitality leadership, employee development, entrepreneurship, hospitality education, and improving travel experiences for people with physical disabilities.

Her perspective on leadership and inclusion became deeply personal when, while serving as the first African American faculty member in the Hospitality Leadership Department at Missouri State University, Dr. Hiller-Lewis became a right leg above-the-knee amputee. Life as a person with a physical disability transformed her understanding of accessibility, resilience, empathy, and the everyday barriers faced by people with disabilities.

Rather than separating her disability from her professional expertise, she uses both lived experience and scholarship to challenge audiences to rethink what inclusion, accessibility, hospitality, and leadership truly mean. Her message reminds audiences that a difference does not diminish a person’s value or potential—and that organizations become stronger when people are genuinely seen, valued, included, and empowered.

Dr. Hiller-Lewis is the co-author of The RevPAR Formula and The Red Book; author of 7 EASY Ways to Show Your Employees YOU Care!; a contributor to I Survived; and creator of the inspirational children’s story coloring books Sabrina and Her New Shoe and Sabrina, The ShoeperHero. Through her children’s work, she extends her message of empowerment to young people with the reminder: “My Difference Is My Power.”

She is also the founder of The Hiller-Lewis Group, where she develops practical leadership resources, educational tools, and programs designed to help individuals and organizations lead with care, purpose, and intention. Learn more about her work at hillerlewisgroup.com.

Her contributions to hospitality education have received international recognition from the International Hospitality Institute, including being named among the 100 Most Influential Educators in Global Hospitality in 2026, as well as multiple previous recognitions among influential educators and leaders in the hospitality profession.

Whether addressing corporate leaders, educators, hospitality professionals, students, disability organizations, or community audiences, Dr. Jokima Hiller-Lewis delivers a message grounded in lived experience, research, humor, humanity, and hope. Her work challenges audiences to move beyond simply accommodating differences toward recognizing the extraordinary value people bring because of them.

Her message is simple but powerful: Care changes people. Inclusion changes possibilities. And sometimes, your difference really is your greatest power.

Speaker Topics

My Difference Is My Power™

Turning Adversity, Difference, and Disability into Strength

What happens when the life you planned suddenly changes?

After becoming a right leg above-the-knee amputee, Dr. Jokima Hiller-Lewis discovered that resilience is not about pretending difficult circumstances do not hurt. It is about discovering that what makes us different can also become a source of strength, purpose, empathy, and influence.

That philosophy also inspired her children’s story coloring book, Sabrina, The ShoeperHero, which introduces young readers to a superhero whose difference becomes part of her power. Through Sabrina’s story, Dr. Hiller-Lewis extends an important message beyond disability: every person has something that makes them different, and those differences should not prevent them from seeing their own value, possibilities, and potential.

Through personal stories, professional insight, humor, and encouragement, Dr. Hiller-Lewis challenges audiences to stop viewing difference solely through the lens of limitation. This presentation can inspire audiences of all ages to rethink adversity, embrace individuality, and recognize the power that can emerge when we stop apologizing for what makes us different.

Key Takeaways:

Reframe difference as a potential source of strength rather than deficiency.
Develop resilience without minimizing the reality of adversity.
Recognize the difference between simply accommodating people and genuinely including and valuing them.
Discover how embracing our differences can strengthen confidence, empathy, purpose, and leadership.

Accessible Hospitality: Beyond the ADA

Creating Experiences Where People with Disabilities Feel Truly Welcome

Accessibility is about more than ramps, grab bars, accessible parking spaces, and regulatory compliance. True hospitality asks a different question: Does the person actually feel welcome?

Drawing upon more than three decades in hospitality and higher education, her research involving travel experiences of individuals with physical disabilities, and her lived experience as a traveler with a physical disability, Dr. Hiller-Lewis provides a powerful perspective on the difference between being technically accessible and being genuinely hospitable.

This presentation helps hospitality, tourism, event, customer-service, and other service organizations recognize barriers they may never have considered while identifying practical ways to create experiences characterized by dignity, independence, respect, and authentic welcome

Key Takeaways:

Understand the important distinction between accessibility, compliance, and true inclusion.
Recognize overlooked barriers that can affect the guest and customer experience.
Examine service interactions from the perspective of people with physical disabilities.
Identify practical ways organizations and employees can create more welcoming and inclusive experiences.
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The Care Standard™

Why Caring for People Is a Leadership Strategy

Dr. Jokima Hiller-Lewis believes leadership begins with one simple question: “How do you make people feel?”

After more than three decades in hospitality, business, entrepreneurship, and higher education—and a life-changing journey as a person with a disability—Dr. Hiller-Lewis has learned that people may forget policies, procedures, and even titles, but they rarely forget how a leader made them feel.

In this engaging presentation, she introduces The Care Standard™, her leadership philosophy centered on intentionally creating environments where people feel seen, valued, appreciated, respected, and empowered.

The philosophy is also reflected in her practical leadership booklet, 7 EASY Ways to Show Your Employees YOU Care!, which provides leaders with simple, intentional ways to demonstrate that employees matter. Dr. Hiller-Lewis challenges the idea that caring is merely a “soft skill” and shows audiences how everyday acts of care can influence employee experiences, workplace relationships, organizational culture, and ultimately the way people serve others.

This presentation moves caring from something leaders simply feel to something employees can actually experience.

Key Takeaways:

Understand why care should be treated as a leadership practice rather than a personality trait.
Discover practical ways leaders can make employees feel seen, valued, and appreciated.
Explore the relationship between empathy, inclusion, employee experience, and organizational culture.
Identify simple, intentional actions leaders can use to demonstrate care in the workplace.