Early career While a student at Howard University in 1993, Lewis was featured prominently in the hit R&B music video by fellow HU alumni
Shai, "Baby, I'm Yours", filmed on campus. The thought of leaving
Teen Summit was painful for her; indeed, several sources quoted her as recalling that she "cried for three weeks" while pondering her choices. In opting to move to MTV, the deciding factor was the possibility of greatly increasing the size of her viewing audience and the potential for influencing America's youth. Lewis hosted and VJed a variety of shows. She began as one of the hosts of
MTV Live alongside
Carson Daly and
Toby Amies, the initial flagship show of the network's new era from its
Times Square studios, and briefly hosted
12 Angry Viewers.
MTV Live merged with
Total Request to become
Total Request Live, a daily top ten video-countdown show where she was a frequent co-host and occasional main host. She also hosted
Hot Zone, which offered both music videos and Lewis's interviews of musicians and others, and occasionally
MTV Jams. On a notable installment of
Hot Zone, she berated the rapper
Q-Tip about the number of scantily clad dancers in one of his videos, which she regretted not handling with more nuance. In a reference to Lewis's broadcasting savvy, Bob Kusbit, MTV's senior vice president for production, told
Douglas Century for
The New York Times on November 21, 1999, "In the past our talent was sometimes just pretty people who could read cue cards. But when we brought Ananda to MTV, we decided we were going to do a lot more live television." MTV also called upon Lewis to host other topical programs including two MTV forums on violence in schools, which aired after the
Columbine High School massacre and several memorial tributes for the singer
Aaliyah, who died in a plane crash in 2001. In 2001, Lewis earned another NAACP Image Award, for her hosting of the MTV special
True Life: I Am Driving While Black. I made the decision for selfish reasons, but I'm going public here because I realized I might be able to help other girls, too. I know the kind of drama that being sexually active brings to your life. I felt that if it was good for me to take a break, it might be good for other young girls, too. You see, I think I would be a whole different person if I hadn't had sex so early. Everybody was saying, "Do it!" but nobody ever said,
"You don't have to do it". I think hearing that would have made a huge difference in my life. Lewis became a familiar presence at celebrity-attended events in and around
New York City with Douglas Century of
The New York Times stating: "In the last year, Ms. Lewis has emerged as the hip-hop generation's reigning 'It Girl,' meaning she is not just an MTV personality but a woman whose looks and attitudes have made her perpetually in demand." Lewis later expressed regret for doing the show, reflecting that she felt she was not ready to handle the responsibility of a full-time hosting role. In 2004, Lewis became the chief correspondent on celebrity subjects for the nationally syndicated, nightly entertainment program
The Insider, a spin-off of the popular
Entertainment Tonight. Also in 2004, Lewis also appeared on the ABC network's reality show called
Celebrity Mole: Yucatán. This reality series won an Emmy for Outstanding Achievement for Enhanced Television. An avid animal lover, Lewis served as co-host of the
A&E television-network show ''America's Top Dog'' and as a spokesperson for the
Humane Society. She was known to frequently introduce her two pet
chihuahuas to interviewers. She was also a spokesperson for Reading Is Fundamental, a nonprofit literacy group. According to
IMDb, Lewis also served as an actress and producer, known for
On the Line (2001), ''Nora's Hair Salon II
(2008) and Method & Red'' (2004). == Illness and death ==