At 80, TOFA honoree Loida Nicolas Lewis is once again gearing up for a global tour, this time to promote her new book, “Look Younger When You’re Older: No Botox, No Surgery,” a wellness guide that blends memoir with practical advice on aging gracefully and staying energized well into one’s later years. The book, released in the Philippines by Anvil Publishing with an international edition through Penguin Random House, lays out the daily habits, nutrition, skincare routines and mindset that she credits for her vitality.
For The Outstanding Filipino Awards (TOFA), Lewis has been more than a high-profile supporter — she has been a cornerstone. From TOFA’s inception in 2011, when few were willing to take a chance on an ambitious new Fil-Am awards night at Carnegie Hall, Lewis stepped forward as inaugural honorary board chair, lending her name, resources and credibility to a fledgling project and its founder, Elton Lugay. Over the years, she has also been named to the TOFA100 Most Influential Filipino Americans, recognizing her impact across business, law and community leadership.
Her personal support has been as consistent as her public roles. Nearly every year that TOFA was held in New York, Lewis took the stage as keynote speaker, guest of honor or award presenter, and she often hosted birthday dinners for longtime TOFA resident emcee Boy Abunda. When TOFA ceremonies began moving beyond New York — to Los Angeles in 2023, Honolulu in 2024 and Las Vegas in 2025 — her early backing remained part of the institution’s DNA.
Lewis’s own story is one of historic firsts. A graduate of the University of the Philippines College of Law, she became the first Asian woman to pass the New York State Bar Exam without attending law school in the United States. She later served for a decade as a general attorney for the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service and won a landmark employment discrimination case against the agency in 1979, advancing civil rights protections for minority employees.
After the sudden death of her husband, trailblazing dealmaker Reginald F. Lewis, she took over as chair and CEO of TLC Beatrice International, a multibillion-dollar food conglomerate, becoming the first Asian American woman to lead a billion-dollar multinational corporation. She steered the company through cost-cutting and restructuring, then turned her focus increasingly toward philanthropy and community organizing — co-founding groups such as the National Federation of Filipino American Associations and supporting educational initiatives like The Lewis College in Sorsogon.
For TOFA News readers, Lewis’s new book and upcoming travels are a reminder that her influence has never been confined to boardrooms or lecture halls. From Carnegie Hall in 2011 to today’s global stage, she has remained a steadfast ally of TOFA and a powerful example of what Filipino leadership, generosity and perseverance can look like across a lifetime.
