About Nicole

Family and education

I was born and raised in western North Dakota, where I grew up with a hardworking single mom on very tight budget. After high school, I got a great scholarship at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. I met lots of different kinds of people there, from the children of US Senators to other scholarship kids like me. I graduated with a BA in American Studies.

After college, I moved to Fargo with the intent to stay for only a year, but I met my husband, Jeremy, and have been in the area ever since. We have two kids, Owen, who studies computer programming at MState, and Chloe, who is a senior at Moorhead High School.

Little Nicole with my great-grandmother, mom, and grandma

Jeremy and I got married at the Hjemkomst

Work

I have worked in marketing and web development for about the last 15 years. I spent a couple of years working as the marketing manager for the NDSU Libraries, and then in 2014 I set out on my own as a consultant in e-commerce, web development, and marketing. I've worked with clients from all over the area, and from as far away as Boston, Southern California, and Switzerland.

Operating a small business allowed me to have more time for my kids and for community activities. Since my kids are now older, I decided to shut down my business and get a job that had more consistency. Since June of this year, I have been the communications specialist at the ND EPSCoR program, which operates out of NDSU. On my first day at work, I joined North Dakota United.

Community

Because my work life has been pretty flexible, I have been able to devote a lot of time to community activities. I have served on Moorhead Planning Commission since 2017. I was elected chair in 2019, 2020, and again this year. I started out not knowing much of anything about city planning and development. In my time on Planning Commission, I have learned a whole lot about things like zoning tables, plats, and renderings.

One of my favorite recent activities is being on the MoorHeart Award selection committee since its inception. I love that we are able to recognize our neighbors for the big and small acts that make our community a wonderful place to live.

I have been a dedicated volunteer and officer with the Clay County DFL since 2017, where I currently serve as vice chair.

I also serve on the board of a couple of nonprofits. WIN-Liberia provides support to members of the Liberian community in Fargo-Moorhead. CHIRA Global Development Organization works primarily with members of the Yazidi community. CHIRA was founded in Moorhead but has since moved its operations to Nebraska.

I have worked as an election judge for several elections. I love helping people exercise their right to vote.

I was the lead organizer for the Fargo-Moorhead Women's March in 2018, 2019, and 2020.

For several years, I volunteered as an English tutor at Moorhead Adult Basic Education, where I met a lot of wonderful people. On the board behind us is my attempt to draw the three branches of government.

Fun

I am a dedicated runner. I'm slow, but the miles still count! I have completed 12 half marathons so far. I also enjoy hiking in our beautiful Minnesota State Parks. My husband and I are on a mission to hike in every state park, and we're about 2/3 of the way there.

I'm a pretty solid baker as well. I like to try a recipe and then make incremental changes to it until I make it as good as I think I can. I have used that method to develop really delicious pie crust and pizza crust recipes.

Anyone who has known me for a long time knows that I am also a knitter. Carpal tunnel syndrome has forced me to slow my knitting needles down, but I still get a few stitches in.

I've used my knitting skills to support the community, like when I taught little kids to dye yarn with Kool-aid. Grownups then knitted that yarn into hats to donate to the YWCA.