Black History Month
Ingrid Lewis-Martin represents
BK’s best as Adams’ chief advisor
BY KIRSTYN BRENDLEN
Brooklyn, the Big Apple’s
best and brightest borough,
has taken center stage in city
politics as a new generation
of leaders, many of whom
hail from Kings County, have
moved into prominent roles.
Comptroller Brad Lander and
Public Advocate Jumaane
Williams are both from the
Borough of Churches, and, of
course, the Chief Executive,
Mayor Eric Adams, is a proud
born-and-bred Brooklynite.
Even within Adams’
brand-new administration,
Brooklyn has taken a prominent
position. A number of
the mayor’s high-level advisors
are Brooklynites by birth
or by choice — including his
chief advisor, Chaplain Ingrid
Lewis-Martin.
A longtime politico and
public servant, Lewis-Martin
has been working with the
mayor since long before he
stepped into City Hall on Jan.
1. Their partnership started
in 2007, when she was hired
as chief of staff for then-state
Sen. Adams. A few years later,
she took on the responsibility
of senior advisor as Adams
represented parts of eastern
and central Brooklyn.
In the senate, Lewis-Martin
said, she “ran the show,”
handling hiring decisions,
executing Adams’ ideas, and
generally keeping things
running. When Adams was
elected Brooklyn Borough
President in 2013, she went
with him to Borough Hall as
deputy borough president.
Adams wanted to run the
show in Brooklyn, she said,
and in seven years of working
together, she had never been
directly beneath him, but he
felt confi dent that they would
work well together — and
they did. Within the hallowed
halls of the former Brooklyn
City Hall, Lewis-Martin and
a small team oversaw the borough’s
community boards,
buildings, and hiring and personnel
within the beep’s offi
ce.
Now, as chief advisor, she
is taking regular meetings
with Adams to discuss the important
topics of the day, lending
her expertise as the team
talk through problems and solutions,
Caribbean Life, F 28 ebruary 18-24, 2022
previews and pre-approves
budgets and spending,
and helps out in fi nding candidates
for jobs at City Hall.
If the mayor isn’t present to
make a quick decision, Lewis-
Martin can step in, and liaises
between the mayor’s offi ce
and other local government
offi cials.
“I didn’t want to be a deputy
mayor and have commissioners
reporting to me, I
wanted to have the fl exibility
to go in and out, to have eyes
on things, and to have input,
to have say, to make changes
as needed,” Lewis-Martin
said.
After all this time working
with Adams, she said, she
knows he values her input —
though, to be fair, he listens to
everyone, she added.
Before Albany
While large parts of her political
career have been at the
mayor’s side, Lewis-Martin
got her start as a volunteer
and later, deputy campaign
manager, to Rep. Major Owens
— 11 years before her nowboss
would challenge him for
his seat in Congress.
Working on Owens’ campaign
forced her to learn how
to make herself heard, she
said. She was the only Black
woman at a table full of men
working on the campaign.
“I had to really be, not aggressive,
but very fi rm, and
really make my voice heard,
so then you become labeled
as aggressive,” she said. “And
it’s not that you’re aggressive,
you’re just trying to get your
voice heard.”
Being hired to work with
Adams was a breath of fresh
air. “He understands and values
the voice of women, just
as my daddy did, my father, he
listened to his girls, all of us,”
she said. “His wife, all of us.”
Growing up, her father instilled
in she and her two sisters
that they had to make
themselves heard — but that
they had to stay polite and
well-informed.
“My father always used to
tell all of his children, you can
tell me anything, but be mindful
how you say it.”
“I would say, ‘Daddy, I don’t
agree,’ and I would explain to
him why, but I had to be able to
articulate to him why,” Lewis-
Martin said. “Sometimes
he would say, ‘You’re right,
you’re right.’ And that makes
you feel good, like, ‘Oh, I could
do this again.’”
That lesson prepared her
for a life in politics, she said.
Acting as a public
servant
Between getting Owens reelected
and taking over Adams’
offi ce in Albany, Lewis-
Martin spent years as a public
school teacher and an instructor
at Medgar Evers College,
but her upbringing is what has
most shaped what’s important
to her and how she approaches
her role in government.
“I think that being a Black
woman, a woman of West Indian,
Panamanian, and American
descent, helped me to look
at things from the perspective
of which I look at things,” she
said.
Her parents worked hard
and struggled to buy the house
where she and her sisters grew
up, ensured they went to decent
schools, and raised upstanding
citizens, she said,
and managed it all on a “very
small” income.
Nowadays, Lewis-Martin
knows that’s impossible
for many New Yorkers working
on a low income, and she
knows they need help.
“I just think when one
works in government, it’s one’s
responsibility to go above
and beyond for those who are
truly in need,” she said. “And
it’s also our responsibility to
bring along partners who are
in a position to do more, and
encourage them to do more.”
She’s certain that Adams
feels the same, and knows that
he was looking to build a team
of like-minded people.
“I know that Mayor Adams
really worked to go through
his administration and to
bring on people who really
cared about the plight of others,
and to bring on people that
he believes in would make a
change.”
Helping outside the offi ce
Government isn’t Lewis-
Martin’s only outlet for her
civic-mindedness. She’s a
longtime member of Alpha
Kappa Alpha, a public-service
focused sorority, and the Order
of the Eastern Star, a public
service organization associated
with the Freemasons.
Three years ago, she decided
to formalize the work
she was already doing in supporting
her community and
become a chaplain with Healing
Hearts Ministries.
Lewis-Martin is a Christian,
she said, but chaplaincy
isn’t dependent on a religion
or denomination. She’s there
to pray for and support people
going through hard times no
matter what their faith.
“If the person is in need,
you fi nd out what’s needed,
you get the need addressed,”
she said. “Maybe they had
a fi re, they need housing, or
clothing.”
Fun and food in Brooklyn
Despite her accomplishments
in government and in
public service, Lewis-Martin
isn’t defi ned by those
things. She used to run the
state’s largest martial arts
tournament and is a karaoke
enthusiast, though the latter
has been subdued by the
pandemic – karaoke isn’t the
most coronavirus-friendly
activity.
She prefers to prepare her
favorite dishes from the West
Indies herself, but names Michael’s
and Marco Polo as her
most-loved Brooklyn eateries
— especially favoring the seafood
salad at Marco Polo, perhaps
to the dismay of her famously
plant-obsessed boss.
The 24/7 demands of her
political career have impeded
the depth of Lewis-
Martin’s work in public service,
she said, but helping out
is important to her, and she’s
working to work more closely
with her sorority now, rather
than wait until she retires.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever
fully retire,” she said. “I
may fully retire from, like,
formalized government, but
knowing me, I’ll probably
transition with my boots on,
because I like working. I’ll
probably always have my
hands in something.”
Ingrid Lewis-Martin, chief advisor to Mayor Eric Adams. File photos