Women Around the World: Ni'cola Mitchell

In this special episode, we interview Ni'cola Mitchell, founder of the organization Girls Who Brunch. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, this is Annie and Samantha and welcome to stuffone
never told your production of I Heart Radio. So today
we have a special edition of Women Around the World
and we're featuring an interview by Nicola Mitchell of the

(00:26):
amazing organization Girls Who broughtch And this interview was sponsored
by Loreal and their Women of Worth initiative, and several
of the women we've featured on this segment have been
recipients of this amazing award. Pass honrees have accomplished some
really impressive and amazing stuff as Champions of the underserved,
including impacting legislation and Nobel Prize nominations. If you want

(00:48):
to learn more about the inspiring stories behind this year's
group of nominees the work they've been doing, and you know,
if you want to vote for this year's national hountery,
you can check out Women of Worth dot com. But today, yes,
we have a wonderful interview with a past honoree of
the program, Nicola Mitchell. Um quick content learning brief mention
of sexual assault and violence. But yes, let's jump right

(01:10):
in and we're so excited to be talking to Nicola today.
Thank you so much for being here. Hi, everybody, thank
you for having me. I am so honored to be here. Yes,
we are so honored to have you. Can you tell
us a bit about Girls Who Brunch? This is Nicola
Mitchell and I'm the founder of Girls Who Brunch Tour Well,

(01:31):
Girls who Brunches, my baby. It's an organization that I
found it back in two thousand and fifteen. We take
low income, at risk girls and we put them with
girls from a better circumstance. So when I say low
income at risk girls who are rescue from the sex
trade girls and foster care girls who are group homes,
and we put them with girls from a better circumstance

(01:53):
and um, let him have fun teach them. Nobody knows
anyone's background and we're subliminally teaching them at this ain't time.
So as of date we have service twenty seven thousand
girls due to the pandemic internationally because now we're in St. Lucia,
England and Bahamas. We loved us because it definitely goes

(02:14):
right in line with what we were talking about when
it comes to women lifting up other women and coming
through and teaching a better way. What it is to
have someone who was a mentor and truly caring for others.
So this is amazing. Um, can you talk about how
you started this organization or how it even began? So
Girls Who Branch, I was, Um, I'm a writer in

(02:36):
my real life. A lot of people do not know that.
They just know me as a Girls Who Branch to
our lady. But I was in Charleston, South Carolina, and
at that time, my mother and my son had just passed,
and I was like in a kind of dark space,
right and I was the featured author at a book
signing at Barnes and Nobles. Um, it was a whole
retreat they did around me. And these girls came in

(02:58):
from the Gala Islands. And when I say that, that
was like the best thing that ever happened to me
because these girls were so open, so naive, and they
were lacking so many just basic skills that regular girls have,
so like some of these girls don't even know that

(03:18):
pizza came in a box. And when we were having
that conversation, I've seen that first half. I realized that
I needed to do whatever I was going to do
here in that city. I wasn't at risk kid. I
was raped multiple times before I turned sixteen. I had
my first daughter five days after my fifteenth birthday, and
my second daughter by nineteen. I was beaten. I've been

(03:42):
through so many things, and I've always told myself I
was going to give back to girls. I just did
not know how to do it. So when I met
these girls and I was in a place of you know,
like kind of lost, like in that wilderness, I needed
something to set my mind on, to get out my funk.
And two or three months later, we created the first

(04:03):
Girls Who Brunched Charleston and we had over two hundred
and fifty girls there, which was crazy. Yeah, that's that's amazing.
And you've already touched on this a little bit, but
can you talk about the reach an impact of Girls
Who Brunch um that has had since you've created it.
So before the pandemic, we were at Girls and we're

(04:26):
on a one city tour and that's averaging about two
hundred and fifty to three hundred and fifty girls for
a city. But once COVID happened and we had to
go virtual, I started using stream Yard and having hosting
each city's tour virtually. So now with it being um
streamed on YouTube but also on all these different Facebook networks.

(04:48):
Now we were having like going from two girls live
to like three thousand people live the entire six hour
duration of our event. And that was just wild to me,
right because you know, you wouldn't think somebody's gonna be
bored or whatever, but I really put a lot of
input and thought into it. We have online games, we

(05:11):
have all these different things that the girls can do
interactively while they're watching the event. At the same time,
we have speakers, panels, workshops. Still everybody is still mailing
now the girls their gifts to their house, and so
that's how we were able to triple the numbers just
in one year by covid. And then now we started

(05:32):
this online masterclass series and this last one we just
had I had forty girls from St. Lucia that were
also involved in the session. So that was even wilder
to me because these babies are logged in at five o'clock,
the session doesn't start until six, waiting, like they're just
so enthused and happy, elated that they're able to participate

(05:54):
in this. So now we're gonna actually launch girls who
brush too our St. Lucia July twenty two from this
on Girl. That is amazing and such a beautiful thing
to see it grow, such a necessary thing. And I'm
sure so many parents and people who have young girls
in their care are so grateful to have this as
something that they can take part in. And you deserved,

(06:15):
Lee were nominated for loreal Women of Worth, and we've
actually featured a few and yeah, you are a part
of that that is phenomenal and is well deserved, well
earned obviously. Um, how do you feel about all of that?
And how did you find out you were nominated? So
funny story, right, I can tell you the truth. I
don't have to give you any good version. I did

(06:39):
not know, right, And so I started getting all these
emails and stuff from them that we you know, you're nominated,
ba blah blah. But I never thought I was gonna
make it to the end. And so they can't get
having us do all these like it's not an easy
thing for anybody who is out there there wants to
be a woman of work. This is like a beauty

(07:00):
padget on steroids. Okay, if you have to do all
kind of stuff, you had to show your skills, just everything,
And so I just never thought I got it. They
had said you were going to find out I forgot
like before the fourth of July, right, and we were
going to our New Orleans event, and I said, you know,
I just didn't get I didn't think anything about it.

(07:21):
I'm in the nail shop on the phone and I
missed a call and I'm looking at the number. I'm like,
that's gotta be a spam call, right, And so I
didn't answer the phone. I was kind of like down
because I was feeling bad about myself and like, you know,
if you didn't get it, you know, and blah blah blah.

(07:41):
And the lady was like, I forgot her name, but
she was like, look, I'm trying to find Nicola Mitchell.
She was like Nicola Mitchell, She's like she won the
Loreal Paris Woman of Words. I've left several messages on
another line right of the line. But it was the
fourth of July, right, so nobody's checking the voicemail. And
I was like, I was in the nail shop, but

(08:02):
I'm like screaming. My nail tech Tina was like, lady,
bring it down, you know. But it was so funny.
So now like every time I go back to the
nail shop, they're like, how Lorial Paris, and how is
Loreal Paris? But that's where I was at and it
was just like crazy. I didn't know who nominated me

(08:24):
after the fact, and I found out that my daughter
nominated me. So that don't even made it more meaningful? Yes,
so beautiful, Yes, so that is a that's this wonderful story.
What in your own words can you tell us what
it means to you to be a women of worth?

(08:47):
So to be a Loreal Paris woman of worth, it
means like everything to me because it was more than
an award. I was like that overachiever kid because I
came from the jack of situation that I had to
prove to my elf that you know you're you're you're
worth it. I guess right, And so getting awards and
things never meant anything to me. It's like, Okay, onto

(09:09):
the next, onto the next. But at that time, when
I found out I was a cancer survivor, I was
on radiation. I was like at a crossroads with girls
who brunch because we have a lack of funding, just
a lack of everything. We were just freshly new. I'm
I don't want to turn a city down. I'm going
through all this by myself. You know, you don't have

(09:30):
money to pay people. They're falling off. I'm still having
to go into these cities, and I just was at
a very low place. So when Lorio came in and
not only did they show me that I was earth
it because they acknowledged the work that I was doing
for this nonprofit, but also like they celebrated us in
so many ways, Like I was honorree in two thousand

(09:52):
nineteen and I'm still being celebrated. And so that's like
the craziest part. Right, you get an award, you get it,
and you're gone, right, and it's to the next one.
I still talk to all of the execs like we're family.
I'm still being represented by them in so many different
places and assets of life. And I just got a

(10:13):
really big thing. I can't say what it is yet,
but when I will tell you, guys off camera, I
wanted from an interview from Loreal Paris like this, right,
And so I called care and I just thanked her

(10:35):
and I'm like, hey, you know, three years later, you know,
you guys are still representing me, and that's just like
the best thing in the world. It feels like family.
They support my organization. So if you are ever afforded
the opportunity to become a woman of worth honory like,
use that to the fullest. Don't just just accept the

(10:57):
money and the accolades of that more me and and
let it go away. If you really build that relationship
with them and let them know that you are supportive
and appreciative of everything that they have going on, I
promise you you are going to continue to feel the
foes of that. That's amazing. And you've earned all of
that obviously with your work and perseverance and everything you've done.

(11:19):
And with that, obviously you've done a lot of good
and you're continuing to do so much goodness for those
around you, our community, because we're talking about the fact
that you are in Alpharetta now in Georgia essentially, and
I love that because that's our community and love seeing
a program like this thrive. But with that, well, what
else can we expect from such an inspiring woman like

(11:43):
yourself Because you're doing so much obviously, and you are
a fighter to the core of everything. So what is
the next big thing? Wow? So my bucket list was
to be international, right, So I am from Jamaica and
so once I get to girls who brush toward Jamaica.

(12:04):
I'm gonna feel like I made it correct, but like
just continue to put out more programs. Like I had
a moment a reflection this weekend. I broke my foot.
So I'm still traveling with a boot on and I'm
sitting there on the wheelchair assists coming going to from
between the gates and I and I'm just like, you know,

(12:26):
this is crazy that so many people wants us here.
They're creating things for me. Before I was like fighting
for people to know who I am, and now there's
so many people who knows who girls If they don't
know who I am, people know who girls who brunches,
and that's just like crazy to me. And so I
just want to continue to make it a household name.

(12:49):
We have eight functional programs right now. We have Masterclass series,
I have feeding programs, I have holiday programs, and I
just want to be able to implement each of those
things and every recity right on ground in every city.
Our virtual programming is the bomb, but I want to
be able to bring in more girls from across the world.

(13:10):
We are supposed to be going to Africa and Romania,
and so I want to be able to go to
more countries that are having perior poverty situations, to be
able to give those girls sanitary um napkins and teach
them on hygiene and things like that. It's just I
have so many things I want to do, But I,

(13:32):
like I told you in the beginning, I am an overachiever.
I promise you I'm going to be. I'm gonna do
every one of those things eventually. Believe it, Yes, totally
so Um, what can you say about your fellow Women
of Earth alums and what advice would you give to
this year's nominee. So, my fellow Women Worth alums, I

(13:55):
love them. That is like a sorority, sisterhood that I
was so honor to be UM grandfathered into. Right. I
talked to majority of my class on a weekly basis.
The ones who I don't speak to on a weekly basis,
I do talk to them, not just like that one time.
We talk on a regular basis. I try to incorporate

(14:16):
everybody in my program in some capacity, and they do
the same thing for me. I just had a weekend
retreat with Crystal a couple of weeks ago. We went
to the winery and stuff, just to have some are Darca.
She she was going through some things and she told
me that I needed a break. I'm gonna see Seanta
this weekend in Chicago. We're gonna have a weekend. So

(14:37):
it's just a sisterhood that I was of amazing women
that are just dope chicks that are doing some great things.
And what I would tell any upcoming classes this year
and beyond, like I said before, please just utilize this
relationship and build on it. Just don't come in, get
your reward and leave, Like, go in and really get

(15:00):
to know your class, because you're gonna be able to
grow even more because these great women are just put in.
And it's great to see a lot of women who
follow causes and and live like this, women who go
after their dreams. And but it's a cause. That's because

(15:20):
in some way they have been hurt, they have been abused,
they have been something in some capacity, right, So knowing
that and being able to be put in a room
with women who have like showing up and showing out
above everybody else, like that's fantastic and support them because

(15:40):
the same way we I'm broken and girls Branches fixed me.
They are broken as well, and they're they're fighting for
that cause because that's healing them. So we look at
like that and support each other. Then you know you're
going to be unstoppable. That's that's amazing and beautiful. And
thank you, thank you, thank you so much for being
here with has been such an honor and congratulations on

(16:04):
your very very very well deserved, well earned, deserved thank you.
We will be watching you and girls who runch in
a non creepy but very interesting to see what you do. Hello,
you always welcome, I Guta said. The next event we
have in Atlanta, you guys will have for our rolt
Ys awesome. That brings us to the end of this interview.

(16:41):
We hope that you enjoyed it as much as we
enjoyed getting to do it. Thanks to Nicola for joining us.
We know she's going to continue to do amazing things
right here in her hometown. Hopefully we can like hang
out in person I know um, but also around the
world and listeners. If there is someone you would like
for us to highlight in the segment, or if you

(17:03):
have any topic, suggestions or thoughts at all, please email
as you can do so at Stuff Media, Mom Stuff
at iHeart Media dot com. You can find us on
Twitter at most stuff podcast or on Instagram at Stuff
I've Never Told You I thinks It's always to our
super producer Christina, thank you and thanks to you for listening.
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