In Her Wildest Dreams

Fulfilling a longtime dream to work in entertainment, Amira Lewally now “greenlights” other people’s dreams

By Justin Walker

In 1 Peter 4:10, we are commanded to “use whatever gift you have to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.” Amira Lewally lives this out each day. Lewally is a supervising producer for A+E Networks, the global media and entertainment brand behind A&E, The HISTORY Channel and Lifetime, among others. In her role, Lewally helps merge creatives, writers and unscripted filmmakers with the business side of A+E. “I get to say yes to people’s dreams,” she said. “There is so much passion behind everyone’s creativity, especially with unscripted stories. My job is to find the best way to put it on air and say, ‘This makes sense in the A+E Networks.'”

Growing up, Lewally was a self-described entertainment addict. She loved TV and film, and desired to one day work in the industry. But she also recognized that she was a business-minded person first, which left her wondering how she could merge these two worlds together.

Amira Lewally, BBA ’15
Supervising Producer; A+E Networks
Houston, Texas

While attending Baylor University to study marketing, Lewally joined a group that focused on branding and promoting music and film. It was a perfect mix of her interests, she said, and it spurred the decision to add a Film and Digital Media minor to her degree. During the second semester of her senior year, a representative from Long Island University Brooklyn spoke to Lewally’s screenwriting course about LIU Brooklyn’s master’s program in Writing and Producing for Television. Interested in the opportunity, Lewally applied and was accepted to start in the fall of 2015. As she progressed through the program, she quickly realized where her skills could flourish in the industry.

“Within the first semester, a professor told our class, ‘If you are not drawn to writing, you can do other things.’ And I thought, ‘I can do other things,'” Lewally said. “Everyone in my cohort needed to write and needed to tell their personal stories. But I felt as though I would be fine helping them tell their story.”

At A+E, Lewally brainstorms and researches potential projects for its networks. She is also responsible for working with projects when a show gets the green light, serving as the voice of the show internally.

Lewally has been able to dip her toes into several different forms of media while at A+E, including producing television shows, developing a podcast and working with documentaries through A&E Indie Films. Her efforts have even landed her in Forbes‘ “30 Under 30” list for Hollywood & Entertainment in 2022.

“This is very wild for me,” she said. “I never had this written on my board of things to do in five years. But it has been great.” While she may never have imagined a journey like this, Lewally is thankful she did not limit herself to the possibilities available.

“When I was graduating Baylor, there was a lot of pressure to know exactly what I wanted to do immediately,” she said.

“But what I wanted to do in 2015 is not what I am doing now, and I am so happy with what I am doing now. My advice is to be open, but also be hungry.”

Baylor Business Review, Fall 2022