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July 10, 2025 30 mins
iHeartMedia Chicago presents the Women Inspire Chicago Podcast, hosted by Angela Ingram, iHeart Chicago's SVP of Public Engagement and produced by iHeart Chicago’s Paulina Roe. Angela hosts inspiring conversations with some of Chicago’s top women executives. Nicole Robinson, Chief Executive Officer for YWCA Metropolitan Chicago, joined Angela for her latest episode.
 
Born and raised on Chicago’s South Side, Nicole R. Robinson has spent her career building bridges between communities, individuals, government, and business leaders. Today, Nicole serves as the Chief Executive Officer for YWCA Metropolitan Chicago, a social impact organization dedicated to eliminating racism and empowering women. Inspired by this mission and the resilience of the families who turn to the YWCA, Nicole is committed to building community resilience to heal from violence; unleashing youth potential and ensuring communities have economic equity needed to thrive. It’s a privilege for Nicole to serve as steward of the mission, vision, strategy, operational and financial leadership of a $40MM, 300 team member human services enterprise, with 12 sites across Cook County, DuPage County and Lake County.

Nicole has been featured in Crain’s Business Chicago amongst the list of Notable Black Leaders and Executives, serves on the boards of Court Theatre and Erikson Institute as well as being a member of the Economic Club of Chicago.

Check out the Women Inspire Chicago Podcast and be inspired!  The Women Inspire Chicago podcast is sponsored by @Potbelly.
 

Connect with Nicole Robinson:
 
https://www.facebook.com/ywcachicago
https://instagram.com/ywcachicago
https://www.linkedin.com/company/ywcachicago
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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
iHeartMedia Chicago presents the Women Inspire Chicago podcast, hosted by
Angela Ingram, iHeart Chicago's SVP of Public Engagement and produced
by iHeart Chicago's Paulina Row. Angela hosts inspiring conversations with
some of Chicago's top women executives.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Nicole Robinson, chief.

Speaker 1 (00:19):
Executive Officer for YWCA Metropolitan Chicago, joined Angela for her
latest episode. Born and raised on Chicago's South Side, Nicole R.
Robinson to spend her career building bridges between communities, individuals,
government and business leaders. Today, Nicole serves as the Chief
Executive Officer for ywcach Metropolitan Chicago, a social impact organization

(00:42):
dedicated to eliminating racism and empowering women. Inspired by this
mission and the resilience of the families who turned to
the YWCA, Nicole is committed to building community resilience to
heal from violence, unleashing youth potential, and ensuring communities have
economic equity needed to thrive. Check out the Women I
Inspire Chicago podcast and be inspired.

Speaker 3 (01:03):
Welcome Nicole Robinson to Women Inspire Chicago.

Speaker 4 (01:06):
Oh my gosh, thank you for having me, Angela. It
is a pleasure to be in conversation with you.

Speaker 5 (01:11):
Well, I am so excited to hear your story. Why
don't you share a little bit about your background.

Speaker 4 (01:16):
Absolutely, I am a Chicago one through and through. So
I'd like to start out by saying that I am
a product of what I call the four p's. I
attended Chicago public schools. I spent my summer at many
of the beautiful parks in Chicago, and those were my
summer programs. So summer day camp, free all day activities,

(01:41):
with free lunch, That's what I experienced. The libraries where
my after school program, I terrorize those librarians. And I
have a few checked out books, a few, a few still.
And we you know, our family received public benefits, things
like Snap and we went to County Hospital. And I

(02:01):
say those things really just to emphasize the fact that
Chicago offered me so much, and that investment in me,
I believe is, you know, part of why I get
to be here in conversation with you here today. I
would ultimately wound up majoring in finance and start my
career in corporate America, working for Navistar Craft Foods and

(02:26):
a company called Mandalize International. I would make a wacky decision,
which would have been perceived a wacky decision at the time,
to no longer work in finance and transition to something
called corporate social responsibility. And that was really grounded in
the fact that, you know, throughout my career in finance,

(02:46):
I was, you know, super curious about this idea of
doing well while doing good, feeling like that I was lucky,
I was blessed, you know. I think there's a lot
of divine intervention in my journey. But also looking back
and seeing so many people in the community that I
love feeling like they couldn't get through and what could

(03:07):
I do to help them get through? And sort of
this community leadership with inside a company is what attracted me.
That's a longer story about how that actually happened, but
that's a part of my journey.

Speaker 5 (03:20):
So did the little girl Nicole at ten years old
think that one day she was going to be the
chief executive officer of the y WCA of Metropolitan Chicago.

Speaker 3 (03:32):
Absolutely not.

Speaker 4 (03:36):
You know, I was always a curious kid, but sometimes,
like a lot of young people in community, you know
your block, you know your neighborhood. My mom was a hairdresser,
so I spent my saturdays at the beauty shop. I
was the shampoo girl, and I made money doing that

(03:58):
and running errands for the clients, and.

Speaker 3 (04:01):
That was a lot of what I was exposed to.

Speaker 4 (04:03):
But I actually didn't have a lot of exposure to
large institutions, large companies. So no, I didn't imagine that,
but I did like any other kid, you know, in school,
you talk about things like, well, do you want to
be a lawyer?

Speaker 3 (04:17):
Do you want to be a nurse?

Speaker 4 (04:19):
And I have always loved to write just a little bit,
so I wanted to be a journalist. There was a
stretch of time where I wanted to be a journalist,
and I think that was just a combination of my
curiosity about other people because I can ask a lot
of questions no, no, and then just you know, wanting

(04:40):
to hear people's story and know that we're connected. We're
deeply connected in some way, whether we know it or not.
Whether they're on the South side of Chicago or you're
in South Africa or Indonesia, there's a connection well.

Speaker 5 (04:54):
And the blessing with your role at the YWCA is
that you have the ability to bring their story to life. Absolutely,
I mean think about that. You want everybody to tell
the story, but you're in a position to make that
story of reality, and that and of itself is a blessing.
You speak a lot about coming from the South Side
of Chicago, and you still live in the South Side

(05:16):
of Chicago. But I do notice that you highlight that
quite a bit. Why is it so important for you
to drive that home?

Speaker 4 (05:22):
Uh, it's so important because of Chicago. Sometimes, you know,
our marketing and media around our city is always not good.
And there is so much to love about Chicago. It's
a wonderful tourist destination. There's wonderful people, there's so much
creative genius in neighborhoods across the South Side. But you know,

(05:47):
sometimes we have a trajectory that is, you know, headlines
that aren't favorable. And I would even say, when I
was working in corporate America for a company called Maunde Leese,
I had their business eighty percent was outside the United States.
So I had the opportunity, the privilege to actually travel
to emerging markets Ghana, Brazil, Indonesia, the Philippines, and I

(06:12):
would go places and people would ask me two questions.
The first question would be do you know Barack Obama.
So the goodwill on the flip side is sort of
iconic leaders like Barack Obama and like I met him,
I don't you know, he doesn't know me by name,
but I know him by name. And then the second

(06:34):
question would be why is there so much poverty and
violence in Chicago? And I'm like, wow, that struck me
because I was visiting communities in a place like Indonesia
or a place like Ghana where the sort of the

(06:54):
level of opportunity and the economic structure is very different,
and for them to think that, hey, it's really bad
in some neighborhoods in Chicago and particularly communities that I'm from.
So I think a part of me is like, as
much as I loved visiting other places and learning about

(07:14):
other people, I felt this deep responsibility to come back
to Chicago, to spend more time in Chicago and particularly
the South Side, because I know the joy that we
have and it's unparalleled. So I want other people to
experience it. I want people to get opportunity. I don't
want them to just because a lot of times we

(07:36):
just don't know right. We're capable, we're talented. It's just
about someone's not letting people through, some bodies not telling
them the secret of how to navigate, and I'm like,
I want to unleash all the secrets.

Speaker 5 (07:50):
Well, when I think about you, I consider you a
bridge builder. And when you look at your history, you know,
between the YWCA, the Greater Chicago Food Depository, all of
those organizations in which you have made your mark has
allowed you to kind of bridge a gap between those
organizations and the community. So when you think about your

(08:13):
leadership success, what is it that really drives.

Speaker 4 (08:16):
You Again, I'm going to go back to community. And
a lot of times at a you know, a place
like the WHITEBCA, they refer to us as non profits, right,
So it's grounded in this idea that we you know,
we don't exist to make money, right, we exist to
make community better. So I often say that for like

(08:39):
a corporation has a shareholders and that stock that's traded
on the financial market. For an organization like the WHITEBCA,
our shareholders are the community. There's a Miss Jackson who
lives in Woodlawn and she's my number one shareholder. Yes,
so when we do right by Miss Jackson, then yes,

(09:01):
we grow right, we build equity. So our equity is
wrapped up in all of the people who are part
of the y w c A.

Speaker 3 (09:10):
It's not just the.

Speaker 4 (09:11):
People we serve, it's the people who volunteer. We have
a parent who is a president of our Parent Council
at the wye w CAA and she works a full
time job. She's in nursing school, she has three kids,
and she's president of our council. That's my shareholder. I

(09:34):
have a responsibility to her, you know. We just we
actually just had a cool event this week where we
honored and celebrated some of our volunteers. And we have
another volunteer, Evan Saint Cloud. I just want to say
her name because it's cool. It just sounds so cool.
I want that name. And she's a you know, an
attorney at a law firm and for a whole year

(09:58):
she advocated on behalf of a woman, a younger, a
person who was assaulted as as a young person, and
pro bono free because she is passionate about bringing justice
to the people we serve.

Speaker 5 (10:16):
So Paul and Rowe is the producer of the Women
in spar Chicago podcast and also a part of the
morning show at One O three five Kiss FM.

Speaker 3 (10:25):
Did you just notice all the stories she just told?

Speaker 1 (10:28):
I think that they are incredible story So you actually
remember you and I have connected before for community affairs,
and I remember you sharing a very similar story about
like growing up and everything, and I think that I
think it all really intertwines nicely, and it's just incredible
to see such a beautiful presentation you know, of where
you're from and then obviously still being a big part
of the city.

Speaker 2 (10:46):
I think it's awesome.

Speaker 3 (10:48):
I appreciate that.

Speaker 5 (10:49):
I mean, but she's a storyteller, and we just said,
I mean, she sit here and rattled off.

Speaker 3 (10:53):
You didn't even realize it, did you?

Speaker 5 (10:54):
No?

Speaker 3 (10:54):
I didn't. But you know what, I have a story
that I do. I do.

Speaker 4 (10:58):
I'd love the White of BCA obsessed and Shiranda from
the White BCA is here with me. She's our marketing
and communication leader, and I love telling the story about
the White wca's mission.

Speaker 3 (11:10):
Will you indulge me absolutely with that.

Speaker 4 (11:14):
Because before joining the White WCA, I was not familiar
with the story. And Angela, I know you can imagine,
like there's so much about history that we either not
taught in school, you know, we just we.

Speaker 3 (11:26):
Forget about it.

Speaker 4 (11:29):
But the White BCA, we're one hundred and forty eight
year old organization. Our mission is eliminating racism and empowering women.
It's that mission is only a little over fifty years old,
and it is a group of black women who advocated
for that mission during the Civil Rights movement because iconic

(11:51):
people like Dorothy Heite, who was the right hand of
Martin Luther King, Ela Joe Baker, who was responsible for
more balizing young people as a part of the movement.
I think her organization was called SNICK.

Speaker 3 (12:07):
They were a part of the White WCA.

Speaker 4 (12:08):
We paid Eli Joe Baker to train women on college
campuses in the non violence resistance movement. So that movement
we take for granted now, Elijo Baker was like the
mastermind behind it, and a lot of people don't know
who she is. We know Martinuther King, we know Ralph Abernafthy,

(12:29):
but we don't necessarily know Elijo Baker.

Speaker 3 (12:32):
So I love evoking the names of those women in
the room.

Speaker 4 (12:35):
And with the way the White WCA works, we convene
annually each year, typically the CEOs of yewcas across the country.
There's one hundred and eighty of us, and in nineteen
seventy one the women convene, but it was much bigger,
and we would actually fly volunteers in to the meeting,

(12:56):
so everyday people who volunteers, so we would have this meeting,
and this meeting had three thousand people, grandmothers, aunties. It
was multi generational, it was multicultural. Of course, it was
during seventy so imagine the bell bottoms, the hippies, the Afros,
exactly hippie sitting on the floor. And it was at

(13:20):
that meeting that a group of black women decided to
have the meeting before the meeting. So I know you've
been in many of those angela the meeting before the meeting.

Speaker 3 (13:29):
The meeting after the meeting, and that's right.

Speaker 4 (13:33):
And they got together and they said to themselves, you know,
we're never gonna get education equity, health equity, economic equity
until we deal with what they called the one imperative,
which was the elimination of racism. And they saw this
deep intersectionality between race and gender that the YWCA had

(13:56):
not fully embraced at that point, and they felt, hey,
this is necessary to move forward, right, And so they
have this meeting. And when they get to the big meeting,
they're not even on the agenda Angela. There's this big
governance thing with protocol, and they sort of advocate put

(14:17):
them on a slate, and they basically present this idea
about eliminating racism, and it's a mic drop moment they present.

Speaker 3 (14:27):
They have a slide.

Speaker 4 (14:28):
It's like the original intersectionality before Kimberly Crenshaw. It is
these women at the WHITEBCI and they walk out of
the conference center in a circle and protests around the building.
And they said, we're not coming back in until we
discuss it, until we vote on it and prioritize this
in the mission. So they begged them to come back in.

(14:49):
We don't want to see, we don't want to protest.
They come back in and over two days the women vote,
and I have these vintage photos from that meeting where
people have signs political convention and some say I vote
yes for the one imperative to eliminate racism, and some
people say hell no, and they leave.

Speaker 3 (15:09):
But in the end they prevail.

Speaker 4 (15:11):
They after two days of discussion, they vote and now
we have this fantastic mission. So I love remarking on
that story. Actually, one time I shared it at an
event and someone walked up to me at the end
and said, I've heard that story before. I think my
mother was there.

Speaker 5 (15:30):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (15:30):
I was like, I want to meet your.

Speaker 4 (15:32):
Mom, because the mom gave me the context around what
really happened beyond what was written. And she said it
was the single most transformative thing in her life, being
a part of that moment, being a part of the
y BCA. She covets that experience. So when I think
about the moment we're in Angela, we're in a moment

(15:54):
where there are a list of words that are flying
around that says, maybe woman is now a bad word.

Speaker 3 (16:00):
Yeah, to say equity is a bad word.

Speaker 4 (16:06):
I have to remember what those women did. I have
to remember what Dorothy Heighte did because it's locked in
our logo and I don't change it.

Speaker 3 (16:15):
I don't change it.

Speaker 4 (16:17):
And there might be some people who feel like it
should be changed, but we don't.

Speaker 3 (16:21):
We don't, and you have to take a stand.

Speaker 5 (16:24):
And that's one of the purposes of Women Inspire Chicago
is because people think that all of a sudden, we
woke up one day and just got where we are today.
And you and I both know that that's not reality.
And you know, we have come a long way in
our careers from day one, and when you tell stories
like that, I mean, but all of those stories and
all of those women, we are where we are today

(16:45):
because of them.

Speaker 3 (16:46):
That's it.

Speaker 4 (16:47):
I stand on the shoulders you stand on the shoulders
of all those women before us. So we can't let
the good word crumble. No, I don't want them turning
over in their graves because what's happening right now. So
we're going to continue to fight for women and families.
We're going to continue to fight for people of color
because it's right.

Speaker 3 (17:09):
And it's it's right.

Speaker 5 (17:10):
It's just because it's right, it's the right thing to do.
So what are your defining values?

Speaker 3 (17:16):
M That's a good question. Uh.

Speaker 4 (17:20):
Trust is my currency, right, you have it with me
until you give me a reason not to have it.
But I value trust and integrity. It's it's like those
are like the price of admission. It's the price of admission. Yeah,

(17:40):
I would say that those those two are the top
of the lists.

Speaker 5 (17:44):
So let's talk about any pitfalls or detours or challenges
along the way in your leadership journey.

Speaker 3 (17:51):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (17:51):
Yeah, you know, I'm one of those people. I tend
to block those challenges. I'm like, what, what something to
really have a challenge? Right or or you know, I
also believe that, you know, resilience is also a value
now that I think about that. So I think throughout

(18:13):
my life I've not I've not been born into privilege,
So I've never operated on the assumption that I'm entitled
to everything that I have or anything that I've achieved.
So I've always sort of moved from a spirit of curiosity,

(18:33):
passionate about what it was, not trying to be someone
I'm not, but to truly be as authentic as I
could be in my work. So I feel like great
things adversity are a part of it. You know, it's
just it's par for the course. It shouldn't be sort

(18:55):
of numbing, excruciating, but you know, creativity, great ideas, impact
is not without some adversity.

Speaker 5 (19:10):
And it creates an opportunity for growth. It creates an
opportunity when you think about the future outlook of women
in leadership, what comes.

Speaker 4 (19:18):
To mind, Well, right now, to be honest, I'm a
little worried Angela. Just to be honest, And the reason
I say that, first of all, all the data shows
that women leaders demonstrate all of the competencies for success.
They lead with impact, they lead with heart, they lead

(19:41):
with strategy, they lead with a commitment unparalleled. But I
follow the data, and the most recent Women in the
Workplace report by Mackenzie came out in the fall, and
that report said that.

Speaker 3 (19:59):
Sexual harassment is on the rise.

Speaker 4 (20:02):
Women don't feel like they belong in some institutions and organizations.
And this is sector wide, whether it's corporate America, the
nonprofit sector, the government sector. We're still underrepresented in government,
particularly at the federal level right now. We are still

(20:24):
underrepresented in corporate America. So there's so many places where
we're still underrepresented. And so I'm concerned about again this
progress around women's leadership, what it means in this backlash,
this manual sphere, like those things do concern me about

(20:45):
what it means for women's leadership. There was a report
at the beginning of the year, the last Labor Standards
Report said that for black women in particular, unemployment went
up a whole percentage point. And we've seeing a lot
of changes. Women were ushered into leadership in a post
George Floyd moment and Uh, now they're leaving. They're leaving.

Speaker 5 (21:11):
So what does that mean for the next generation of leaders,
young leaders such as a Paulina. We've talked about women
in general and the outlook, but what happens to Paulina.

Speaker 3 (21:22):
Oh, Paulina, we need you in the game.

Speaker 4 (21:24):
Paulina. Actually we have. Here's the baton right now, you
take it. You take the baton. That's actually what we
need to see happen. And part of what I described
also as why we need to wrap our arms around
young people.

Speaker 3 (21:40):
We need to pull them up. We need them to
know there's nothing wrong with a little hard work.

Speaker 4 (21:48):
And sometimes we know what we're talking about. A so
so sort of sort of take the feedback, but we
we I want them to step up. I want them
to lead. It's a different an environment now again in
how you navigate. I think you know some of us
when it's time to go, we need to go. I

(22:09):
can recall that. No, seriously, Yeah, you're right, you're right.
There are jobs and situations I've left or organizations I've
created where I said I'm doing this for this time
and now I'm passing the torch. I'm passing the torch,
so come take it. Because I'm going to go do
something else. So I think the more we can do that,
because that's power. As a matter of fact, when I
was at Craft and the company was splitting to create

(22:33):
two new companies, one Kraft Foods and the other Mandalese International,
I had a young black woman who was working for me.
She was smart, and she's like, oh, well, I want
to I'm not sure where I'm going to be in
a company, but I want to go with you and
where you go. And I was like, no, I want
you to go lead the other company because I trust

(22:56):
that you're going to lead the work in a way
that makes sense. And that was an opportunity, right, And
when we have power and situations, we need to make
those recommendations to make sure someone did it for me.
Someone When I got promoted at Craft, when I left Finance,
they told me it was.

Speaker 3 (23:16):
A dead end job.

Speaker 4 (23:17):
I'd never get promoted, I'd never get equity compensation.

Speaker 3 (23:21):
But I made it.

Speaker 4 (23:23):
You know, someone said no, you can do this, and
then they stepped aside.

Speaker 3 (23:28):
Right, So we have to have.

Speaker 4 (23:29):
This legacy of pulling each other up, pulling each other
in and into the next Well, her, are you ready.

Speaker 3 (23:39):
I'm ready?

Speaker 2 (23:40):
I feel like it is a big responsibility to carry.

Speaker 1 (23:42):
But I think those such as yourselves who've paved the way,
I think, not only open opportunities and create them, but
also show us the way.

Speaker 2 (23:49):
It's like a nice transition in you know.

Speaker 4 (23:52):
And I think you guys can show us the way too.
Because I'm a self professed workaholic. I'm not gonna yeah,
oh yeah.

Speaker 3 (24:01):
Sugarcoat it.

Speaker 4 (24:02):
Right, It's real and that's the way I learned to navigate.
But I think if there is a different way, and
I think there could be a different way. Actually, that's
where you have guys have to help us, Like, how
can it be different? Yeah, let's reimagine the future.

Speaker 1 (24:19):
Yeah, I agree with that, And I think, like, you know,
even generation like the the gen Z for example, right,
I feel they get so much backlash, but I love
how much that they are teaching me too when it
comes to like certain things in the workplace of speaking up, speaking,
advocating for yourself right from everything from pay, transparency right
to just pretty much anything representation, like making sure that

(24:40):
like our voices are heard. And I kind of love
that about them because that way we have a joke
will be like all the intern like she's on she's
on one today, you know, because growing up, we never
were like that as interns, And now I look at
our interns and I'm like, I like, you guys something.

Speaker 2 (24:51):
You guys got something, you know.

Speaker 1 (24:53):
But it's just so funny to see and like the
different generations coming up and stuff. It is.

Speaker 4 (24:57):
It is, no it are. It reminds me too. I
actually have a good friend. Her daughter just got a
great new job. It's like an epic great job. You know,
how you major in something. She majored in design. Okay,
she is a textile designer and got this great job
at a company that makes textiles like pillows, you know, everything.

(25:20):
And she was just in a meeting that she hasn't
been there ninety days yet.

Speaker 3 (25:24):
So let me say that she hasn't been there ninety days.

Speaker 4 (25:27):
And they placed her. They've been putting her into all
these meetings in the company. I'm not going to say
the company's name, but I will. Nate Burkis is their
new client, and they put her in the meeting with
Nate Burkis, right, So.

Speaker 3 (25:39):
How cool is that? Like, oh my gosh.

Speaker 4 (25:41):
So she comes home and tells her mother like, okay,
well they didn't say I would be doing all this,
so I feel like I need to get paid more.
She said, And it's not been ninety days. It's not
been ninety days. And I said, oh, slow down. Let
let's let's get to ninety days. Let's get some feedback.
Let's act design a pillow first. Let's design a pillow first.

(26:05):
Then week and ago, I said, and see the fact
that you're in this meeting with Nate burkis as a
sign up. They trust you so much, they want you
to learn fast. They just want to accelerate your learning,
your exposure.

Speaker 3 (26:19):
Yeah, but she's.

Speaker 4 (26:20):
Going to get to work with Nate on a pillow.
That's priceless. And back in my day, we would see
that as the reward. Yes, the fact that I got
included in the meeting. We didn't see it as more work.
We just saw it as like, oh, this is a
privilege because not everybody gets to be in the meeting
with Nate Berk, correct, and.

Speaker 3 (26:39):
That's our responsibility. It's not familiar.

Speaker 5 (26:44):
Angelo have two nieces that their names are just going
through my mind that are in the media business. Wonder
why and I have these same conversations. Really, you know,
they have been blessed they are in high level media possians.
But it's that story and I'm saying, hey, well, you
know things are different now. I've been able to survive

(27:07):
for forty plus years, because.

Speaker 4 (27:10):
Can I have five that forty plus years? I know
what I'm talking about it and.

Speaker 3 (27:14):
I started as an intern. Okay, can I hear your store?
And all the way up?

Speaker 5 (27:19):
That's another podcast. But my motto has two mottos. One
as long as it's not illegal or immoral, you just
do it?

Speaker 3 (27:29):
Don't you write that down? Are we write down the tabaways?

Speaker 5 (27:33):
And then every time that the Lord has blessed me
to go through a door, I look back and bring
someone with me. There you go, And that's really it.
And you have you know when a new opportunity float
your way, and then think about the person that needs
to be there to go through the door, and always
be there for them. Don't just hey, you're through the door, now,

(27:53):
see you? They always need to be able to connect
with you. You know, I talk a lot of people off
a ledge. I'll be able to do that because if
you don't, they'll make some mistakes that perhaps I made.

Speaker 3 (28:08):
And you know what, I had someone to talk they
talk me off a ledge. Oh so many people. My
sister says, you never let anyone go. I said, I can't.
I need them. They need to keep me focused, they
need to keep me straight, you know.

Speaker 5 (28:20):
But it's we have a deep responsibility, you know, and
really as leaders, that's what what what inspires you?

Speaker 3 (28:28):
Or who inspires you? Nicole?

Speaker 1 (28:30):
Mmm?

Speaker 4 (28:31):
You know, Actually who inspires me regularly is my eighty
three year old mother, who drives a little red suv.
She loves red, so she wants everything red. She is
a fashionista. She loves interior design. She has a sharp
design aesthetic. She loves politics, so during the presidential election,

(28:55):
she regularly had advice for the candidates. She had policy recommendations.
She loves Alexei Janulius. Right now, if he's listening, I
just want to put that out there, because he has
changed sort of the driver's license renewal requirements for older adults.

(29:17):
And she feels very excited about that because she's like, hey,
I drive better than everyone, all the young people. I
don't get into accidents. So yeah, he's loosened the guidelines
to her benefit.

Speaker 3 (29:30):
Wow, And we're going to New York.

Speaker 4 (29:33):
We're actually going to New York fourth of July weekend
because she wants to go to the met to see
the Black Dandyism exhibition. So I just love that at
eighty three, she is still amazingly curious.

Speaker 5 (29:48):
It's a blessing. Yeah, Yea's a blessing. Do you have
that type of relationship? And I know you speak of
your mother often and that is such a blessing. Well, Nicole,
thank you so much for stopping by and being with
us today and sharing stories, not only your story but
the stories of those that benefit greatly from your service
at the YWCA. Thank you, and we look forward to

(30:12):
chatting with you again.

Speaker 3 (30:13):
Thank you so much. Angela happy to be here with you.
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (30:16):
Thanks for listening to The Women That Inspire Chicago podcast
hosted by Angela Ingram, produced by Paulina Rowe, presented by
iHeartMedia Chicago, and sponsored by Pot Belly.

Speaker 5 (30:26):
Feed your group from small to larch with pot Belly
catering pot Belly, you Gotta Get It Hot.
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