This summer I was asked to speak at the first girls camp in India. There was a little girl in the front row that was crying hysterically. She had never spent a night away from her family. I wanted to step off stage and wrap my arms around her.
What Tugs at Our Hearts?
I was there in the orphanage in Katmandu with the children they found after the earthquake. 124 children between three months and eighteen all of who lost their parents. 120 were children with no parents, no families, no shelter, no food, no shoes, and me in the moment, ready to swoop in and embrace each and every one of them. Bringing resources support, care, and love.
Katrina
My heart was mangled by Katrina and the children that watched their parents float away. What would they need to erase their fears and feel safe again?
FBI
When I was asked to speak to the FBI on sex trafficking, I stepped on stage and said an Inuit living in an igloo may not know what a Starbucks frappuccino is, but that does not mean every four minutes someone around the world isn’t having a Starbucks coffee. Just because we aren’t aware doesn’t mean that every four minutes someone isn’t having a child. Oh, heart, be strong.
United Nations
It was a stormy night. Some of the worst weather I have ever seen the night I spoke at the United Nations about children at wartime. Children whose parents were killed that were now being solicited and entrapped to become trained killers. Little girls and little boys ages six, seven, eight, nine, ten, and eleven are living in a nightmare world. Despite the treachery of the weather and conditions, the United Nations house was packed. People do care. I’ve seen four-year-olds selling themselves on the streets of rural and remote cities. We hear of animals being slaughtered, and I’ve witnessed seniors being tucked away in filth and solitude. There are childhood diseases that need cures. Our nation is filled with cities with children needing safe passage from schools as to not to be picked up by gangs.
Mental Health
Bullying, self-image, cutting, mental health, families without food or resources. Villages without schools.
Crisis Management
I have dove into every pool. Each pool is different, some warm and inviting and some are so cold you feel as if you could barely survive. I’ve been asked to Keynote at charities, foundations, organizations, and Fortune 500 corporations. They may all have the research—the doctors, the scientists, and the heroes—but they may not have the words to say, to share, to present, and to convey. I speak for the people to the people.
We Are One
I asked God and the universe each and every time I speak, if today was my last day on this planet, what would I say? I ask my heart this question, and then I open my heart and I just share the information. I share the truthful solutions and the answers to questions that are asked around the world.
I love moderating panels, interviewing experts, and finding solutions together.
Every charity I have worked with is the most important charity in the world. Each cause, each need matters. It matters to a child, it matters to an adult, it matters to a family, it matters to a country, culture, city, town, and to the people. We are given hands to help one another. If I see someone trying to put a wheelchair in a car or I see someone on a ladder hanging a store sign unable to reach, if I see a homeless person or a family without shelter, I just open my eyes. We can all do this. I am an International Speaker; truly, I am an International Expression of Love.
Ambassador of Kindness
I don’t want to be seen as a woman or as a redhead; I want to be seen as LOVE. Not as someone who brings love, but to be love itself. To be the eyes, the ears, and the heart of humanity. I look forward to opening my heart to the more and the more and the more.
Challenge Air
Dreams Take Flight
Building Confidence in children and youth with disablity
I was invited to the most extraordinary event, Challenge Air. I was asked to help children who were crippled or who had special needs board an airplane.
The plane ride was just the child, the parent or caretaker, and the pilot. The child rode up front with the pilot, and they were given full range of the controls. Imagine a child who in their minds and in their world had limitations. Limitations every second of every day.
For many, their limitations were physical. They couldn’t walk. For others, rare and painful diseases and diagnoses. Some mental challenges, others abuse or unimaginable circumstances. But here at Challenge Air, there were no limitations. The sky was the limit. Which means for the first time in their lives they were unlimited, free, and unbridled and one hundred percent fully present. Rich in experience and living the moment of joy. Being wheeled up, carried, or led to the planes, wonder would arrive in their soul. The plane propellers welcomed them loudly.
The pilot smiled broadly with a welcoming hand. Child after child, I would assist the children onto the plane. Often, unknowing confused or complacent faces. Just being moved and picked up again to go into another seat or new experience. The faces when they landed are etched in my heart for eternity. Beaming broadly. Joyful, ecstatic, gleeful faces dancing with delight and magic. Never before have I ever seen such instantaneous change effect and success. In the air, limitations did not exist. I was hooked.
Challenge Air provides flights across the nation. Pilots from every state volunteer to take these children on an exhilarating, life-changing ride. Being the master of Unlimited Living Challenge Air is now a part of my heart and my soul. It is the charity where children and dreams take flight, and the smiles are the smiles of dreams that have come true.
Hollywood Beautification
LA/HBT
The Measure of our success is the world we leave our children
When I first started with HBT (Hollywood Beautification Team), I received an emergency call from a friend. A board member was rushed to the hospital right before a big Gala fundraising event. Could I help? Could I jump in to assist with the event? The board member was responsible for so many elements. The programs, the VIP registration, the celebrities, the performers, and many other details to help make this an incredibly beautiful and memorable event. “Of course, I’ll help,” I responded. “Send me the address, and I’m on my way.”
At that time, HBT was in a small room. They now have a phenomenal community building and learning center right in the heart of Hollywood. One that provides services, classes, events, seminars, and community support on a daily basis. When I started with HBT, we were in a room, and some people in jeans and coveralls were racing out the door when I arrived. I was briefly introduced when we changed positions in the little room. I was told they were heading out to take the graffiti off the buildings and walls. Each time I arrived, I learned something new. They would plant trees in neighborhoods that fell below the poverty line. Anyone can have a tree. They would create a fun and engaging planting ceremony inviting the neighboring communities, and they would name the tree and give it importance and life.
LA/HBT has planted more than 1,500 trees and removed more than 2 million square feet of graffiti each year. I met Elon Musk, Alan Alda, Melissa Gilbert, Paula Poundstone, and hundreds of celebrities, all sharing their talent and time. This list continues as HBT continues to grow. HBT’s staff and volunteers would teach schools how to plant gardens so the children had fresh food to take home. Often, the only food that family had that day. LA/HBT has adopted 140 public schools. They’ve taught communities and individuals how to collect rainwater, made our public parks and public playgrounds safe, and for 9/11, created ceremonies that opened the conversation for all faiths and religions to remember, to mourn, to celebrate, and to come together as one community and one heart. When the building was granted, the mayor said when you look at our dollars, you have to look at what organizations do the most good.
Hollywood Beautification Team is that organization where the good of the organization emanates from every employee and volunteer. Hollywood Beautification Team has hired 2,500 youth and mentored 35,000 schoolchildren. I am proud to be part of LA/HBT, where the City of Angels spreads its wings. Innovation, community, service, and support can be found here at the LA/HBT.
Amazing Gray Foundation
Grayson, the Center of my heart
to connect critically or chronically ill children and help
Who is your hero? I was asked at a seminar recently. Grayson Arroyo I replied. This powerful little boy changed my life. Who would you have a conversation with if you could talk to anyone I was asked at another workshop? Grayson Arroyo I replied. This pint-sized person inspired my life. Grayson (Gray) was diagnosed with a rare brain disorder. He was prodded, poked, and subjected to countless hospitalizations, tests, treatments, and modalities of healing, hope, and medical magic.
When I met Grayson, he was entering the first grade. He had dreams and desires like all kids; only the world was not so kind. Swimming, karate, basketball instructor after instructor turned him away. They were afraid he would be injured or die in their care. I jumped in. He enthralled me. What’s your favorite thing to do in the whole world? Count my money in my piggy bank, he replied. Wonderful, I told him. Tomorrow, let’s count your money together. His eyes lit up. He had never had a tomorrow before. Together we sang his favorite songs and learned to visualize amazing adventures. We’d hold hands and close our eyes and go for rides at the amusement park together.
I worked with Gray, eliminating fears, showing him his unlimited power, and breaking through any barrier hurdles or walls. Even though I was his teacher, he was mine. I am braver and stronger, and I have more courage because of Gray. I live in my heart, and I speak my truth. He taught me that. I face my fears head-on with transparency, and vulnerability, and a bounce in my step. That was his energy. Resilient and free. One day I was wearing a flowing floor-length summer dress and a pair of strappy summer white high heels. I was standing with Grayson at the starting line of the March of Dimes Marathon. The minute the race began, Gray reached out and quickly grabbed my hand. He firmly squeezed my fingers. “Let’s go,” he said with his bright, beautiful smile. Grayson’s body was failing at this time. You would never know it. With authority, he charged at me again, “Let’s go!” “Failing,” he said to me confidently, “is not an option.” That little boy led me on the March of Dimes walk. We walked the entire route. At times I knew he was tired. His body was pushing its little limits. “We have to finish,” he would say. “We have to show them. We have to help.” Wow, my hero. So in high heels and a long flowing dress, I held the hand of this pint-sized master of the universe, and we walked hand in hand proudly to help those in need.
Through the years, Grayson became an advocate for children, teens, and adults. He was an ambassador, a guide, and a shining star in our world. His foundation has helped research and create medical breakthroughs that would not have been possible if not for this mighty life. Grayson left us recently, from boy to teen to young man, our prince, our king, our hero. He left a legacy of strength and courage, humor, smiles, delight, and light. I will always support the Amazing Gray Foundation as well as the Think Again Foundation, which provides rehabilitation therapies for children severely affected by cancer and brain tumors. Helping them receive the services they need to succeed in their lives after cancer.
Gray and his mother Michelle changed my life. They changed my view of the world, and they gave and continue to give courage a whole new meaning. Every time I take a step, every time I put on a pair of high heels or a flowing dress, or someone confidently squeezes my hand. I hear, ‘Let’s Go!’ I hear, ‘Not finishing is not an option,’ and I step ahead. Sometimes in the dark of the night I close my eyes and we go on the rides together, but mostly I carry his message: We have to help them; Let’s Go.
Keynote
Topics
How To Reach For Your Dreams
Nicole’s mastery of the body, mind and consciousness makes this keynote a sure-fire hit for everything from Corporate gatherings to Personal Transformation Extravaganzas. Nicole teaches that the first motion of the human body is to reach. By mastering the reaching process, you can successfully reach for your dreams, goals, finances, and love. Learn How Today!
Picture Me Perfect
Wake Up and Live! This Keynote is geared for Teachers, Therapists, Principals, Educators, Counselors and Parents. From Anorexia to Bulimia, Gangs to Cutting, learn about kids’ and teens’ body image today. Know the signs, hear the silent cries, see the patterns, and get the tools you need to help these children break free and blossom into happy children who love their bodies, love their lives, and whose dreams lay at their feet ready to be lived.
Picture Me Perfect For Kids and Teens
So many children suffer from feeling and being alone. Anorexia, bulimia, gangs, cutting and kids’ body and personal image starts from somewhere inside. Whether they’re being abused, neglected, or fell in with the wrong crowd, kids can succumb to a variety of circumstances that they may feel are beyond their control. Where do these kids go to escape peer pressure, break free, feel good about themselves and see another way out? Who tells them that they are pretty, worthwhile, smart and loved children. This ground breaking event opens hearts, minds and spirits and spring boards these kids to honesty, happiness and feeling good success.
Joy vs Happiness The Power Of Words
What’s Danger to Risk? What’s Success and Happiness to Where You are Now? Let Nicole – a world renowned author and acclaimed wordsmith – share with you the ultimate power and secret to success. Learn how words (the right words) not only saved her life, but propelled her to amazing success. What words will propel you? Join us for this incredibly exciting event that will change your world.
What is a Miracle
From birth Nicole always knew she had a body and mind unlimited in power and potential. Come hear the story of how she defied the medical community and broke free of human conceptions of power and will. Follow her journey into the jungles and atop the highest mountain peaks as she searched for the answers and learned what a miracle is, and how it can happen to you.
