Meet Nicole
I’m Nicole (She/Her), a licensed social worker, Reproductive Justice activist, independent researcher, evaluator, and organizational strategy and sustainability consultant.
Some of my clients and partners over the years include Black Mamas Matter Alliance, HealthConnect One, If/When/How: Lawyering for Reproductive Justice, Mathematica, National Network for Abortion Funds, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Public Health Solutions, Reproaction, SisterSong, Sadie Nash Leadership Project, Social Workers for Reproductive Justice, and more.
My work focuses primarily on lived experiences of Black, Latinx, Asian/Pacific Islander, and Indigenous women, girls and gender expansive youth (I support and organizations that serve them). My interests are ever-evolving, and I write about my experiences working in real-time with my clients and partners.
I also speak with local and national policymakers to gain support for policies that improve the lives of women, girls and gender expansive youth of color, facilitate discussions on issues that heavily impact underserved communities, and write extensively on how equitable access impacts daily living.
Photography by Jen Painter
I wear 3 hats:
As a social worker and public health practitioner, I use what I’ve learned during my undergraduate students at Spelman College , pre-grad school work at the Morehouse School of Medicine Prevention Research Center and graduate studies at the Columbia University School of Social Work to hone my skills and keep me abreast of current public health and social work practices.
As an activist, my work prioritizes intersectional analysis, including partnering with mission-aligned individuals and organizations passionate about building individual, staff, and community capacity to be equitable, while also understanding the importance of radical self care and community care.
As an organization engagement and sustainability expert, I apply cultural responsiveness and equitable practices, using competencies developed by the American Evaluation Association , core competencies for public health professionals, the National Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics , and guidance from the Society for Gender Professionals to capture organizational strengths and areas of growth.
I also hold professional memberships with the Advancing Culturally Responsive and Equitable Evaluation Network, American Evaluation Association, American Public Health Association, National Association of Black Social Workers, and the National Association of Social Workers.
But let’s go back to the beginning…
I’m a Georgia Peach, originally from Atlanta. I have a twin sister and I spent the first 25 years of my life in the South before leaving for the brights lights and chaos that’s New York City.
I originally wanted to be a professional musician, declaring this after I picked up the violin in orchestra class in the 6th grade after being inspired by Claudia Salinger on the Fox TV show Party of Five. I practiced nonstop, became concertmistress in my middle school and high school orchestras, went through 3 private violin instructors, and dragged my family to all of my orchestra performances, music camps, and private lessons.
This changed in November 2003, when I attended the first national conference of the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice during my sophomore year at Spelman College. As a member of Spelman’s Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance campus chapter, I had the opportunity to volunteer for the conference in exchange for free admission. That’s when I was introduced to the Reproductive Justice framework. I was inspired by SisterSong’s mission and what was becoming of the RJ framework, but I was mostly inspired by the young women of color who were at the conference, several whom were there on behalf of Advocates for Youth’s Young Womxn of Color for Reproductive Justice Leadership Council.
My interest in playing the violin professionally slowly faded, and I switched my college major to psychology. I initially planned to develop a private therapy practice, but the leadership and volunteer experiences I had through YWOC4RJ, the Pro-Choice Education Project’s Young Women’s Leadership Council, HOTGIRLS, and Cool Girls, Inc. started to lead my heart to the possibility of creating a nonprofit that caters to the needs of women and girls of color.
and how I got to this point…
After graduating from Spelman, I worked as a graduate research assistant with the Morehouse School of Medicine’s Prevention Research Center. In the Evaluation department, I developed my skills in creating logic models, developing evaluation plans, collecting data, collaborating with stakeholders, and reporting on evaluation findings. When my supervisor went on maternity leave, I took her place in attending conferences that centered on program evaluation, including the American Evaluation Association’s Summer Institute. (I still have the 2007 program binder!)
Getting an insider’s peek in nonprofit management, working with women and girls of color, providing young women with leadership opportunities, and developing and evaluating programs and services led me to social work and to the Columbia University School of Social Work. While at CSSW, I focused on Advanced Generalist Practice and Programming, where I studied a mix of clinical interventions along with program development and evaluation, grant writing, and program sustainability. The best part of my CCSW studies was my field placement experiences: clinical case management at the Center for Center for Comprehensive Health Practice and working on a community-based participatory research project with Dr. Rogério Pinto of Project Interagency Collaboration Implementation.
Public health and social work are two of the most versatile fields out there, and I still had my career focus on opening a private clinical practice (along with running a nonprofit).
But I was led in another direction…
After graduating from Columbia in 2010, I worked as a case manager for Housing Works, a leading organization that fights for the rights of people living and affected by HIV/AIDS and homelessness.
In 2011, I went to my second SisterSong conference, in Miami. I volunteered on the planning committee, and in exchange, I got to attend the conference for free, and have my travel and hotel accommodations paid for.
This time, social media had taken over, and like most conferences, attendees would use the conference hashtag to share insights from the conference. I tweeted up a storm, focusing mostly on the plenary sessions.
I wanted a place to put my tweets and reflections from the conference, so I copied them from Twitter into 4 blog posts, and just like that, my blog was born.
My blog’s original intent was to articulate my views on Reproductive Justice and feminism. Later on, I added more of my voice as a public health practitioner, social worker, researcher, facilitator, and evaluator. Soon, I was contacted by organizations wanting to know how much I charge for trainings and workshops.
I professionalized my blog and my social media platforms, networking and gaining as many professional and educational experiences I could on building a location-independent consulting business, all while working full time. I gained several clients, and used my vacation days to meet with them. Working full time while building a business and brand is hard, and I slowly entertained the idea of leaving my day job to work for myself.
I never studied business or marketing. But networking and connecting with people who were leaders in community-based participatory research, culturally responsive and equitable evaluation, social work, and Reproductive Justice who found a way to build businesses utilizing their passion and skills encouraged me to make a major life change.
After nearly 6 years of working with one-one-one with individuals confronting some of the most difficult moments of their lives, I realized that I would have a greater impact on changing lives by working directly with the organizations, businesses, and agencies that provide those programs and services.
And here I am.
In May 2016, I left Housing Works to take Nicole Clark Consulting full time. From attending the SisterSong conference in 2003 to being a front-line public health social worker, everything I have experienced has led me to this point.
By sharing my expertise and experiences, Nicole Clark Consulting allows me to connect with people in ways I’ve never imagined. I can connect with organizations and communities on a deeper level, helping them raise their voices and the voices of the women, girls, and gender expansive youth of color.
Nicole’s Professional Biography
Nicole Clark, LMSW (she/her) is a licensed social worker and owner of Nicole Clark Consulting, where she partners with mission aligned BIPOC-centered, women-led, and allied organizations whose work supports the lived experiences and advancement of women, girls, femmes and gender expansive youth of color. Using a Reproductive Justice-informed and intersectional approach, Nicole leads, partners with and consults on projects related to participatory research, program design, strategic planning, and culturally responsive and equitable evaluation. Nicole is based in Washington, DC.