Nicole grew up living abroad, and experiencing different cultures has been part of her identity since her earliest memories. She and her husband raised their two daughters in Togo, West Africa, where they did mission work and supported a local HIV/AIDS clinic. In addition to her work in Togo, Nicole later led an Adult ESL and immigrant workforce integration program in Memphis, TN. It was during that work that she founded the MidSouth Immigrant Integration Network in 2018.