Today we’d like to introduce you to Nicole Telfer
Hi Nicole, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I have always been a community-oriented person and I thank my parents for that. I grew up in a Black Caribbean household that valued collectivism and village-mindedness. My mom is from Thornton District, St. Elizabeth, Jamaica and if you ever visit that particular area, you will see that everyone knows everyone. Everyone helps everyone. Everyone’s a family. If an elder passes away, everyone in Thornton district shows up in love and full support. I’m so glad that village and community mindset was instilled in me. Fast forwarding a bit– One day, during a writing seminar held in Baltimore while I was in graduate school, we were encouraged by the facilitators to look up the meaning of our names. I hadn’t given much thought to what my name would mean because I have a very basic, Westernized name. However, when I discovered my name’s meaning, it was as if my life’s purpose and calling all made sense. Nicole means “The People’s Victory,” and many folks who know me well would say that it is very fitting. I love organizing. I love gathering folks to be in unity and community with one another. This started as early as high school in Brooklyn, NY, and as recent as graduate school here in Baltimore, MD. At the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), I founded the first Black Graduate Student Organization in the institution’s 54-year history. I recognized that I and other Black graduate students were in need of crucial resources and support and created a space where we can receive that. And it warms my heart to know that the BGSO is still active to this day. There’s one particular annual event the the organization’s hosts and that is an Ebony Ball where we highlight and honor Black students, faculty, and staff, as well as Black owned businesses in the area. Some reputable Black-owned businesses that we have awarded with a plaque are “Poets for Dinner,” “Drama Mama Book Shop,” and “God’s Creations.” We have also had amazing guest speakers like Sybrina Fulton, the mother of Trayvon Martin, and American Politician and wife of the late Elijah Cummings, Dr. Maya Rockeymoore Cummings.
My drive to create community among folks who have often been excluded in various spaces also motivated me to gather Black women doctors (and soon-to-be doctors) to share their experiences in a memoir. The first edition was published in 2022 and is entitled, “Our Doctoral Journey: A Collection of Black Women’s Experiences.” The second edition is currently in the works, and I am excited to work with brilliant womxn across the world and across disciplines. What’s been so exciting about gathering these womxn are that they are from across the world and despite being in different geographical locations, the experiences have been quite similar.
In addition to creating community, I also take pride in being a mentor to young people. In 2021, I had the honor of serving as a mentor to about 50 high school girls who were seniors at the time at the Baltimore Leadership School for Young Women. In my role, I gave various presentations related to research and preparation for college. I was also a mentor through Assist Our Kids (A-OK) in Columbia, MD, where I met one-on-one with Black and Brown elementary school-aged youth. Currently, I am a mentor through Lumiere, which is a research program housed in England, and I am mentor to an amazing high school student who lives in Peru.
Continuing on the path of community, leadership, and mentorship, I founded a small consulting business called “Justice and Liberation Consulting, LLC” based in Baltimore, MD. With a collective mission to help expand diverse organizations, we are committed to providing high quality consulting that incorporates the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). In a rapidly evolving global landscape, embracing diversity, ensuring equity, and fostering inclusion are not just moral imperatives but also essential components of a thriving and innovative organization.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The road has truly been rocky. There were internal struggles, like imposter syndrome, as well as systemic and institutional barriers, particularly when I was in undergraduate and graduate school. When I wanted to establish the Black graduate student organization, I received lots of support but also received some pushback. I was told to focus on my academic journey to ensure that I don’t fall behind in courses and not to consider running an entire campus organization. I also faced struggles as a graduate student…feeling too young to even be in a doctoral program and earn a doctorate degree. I have encountered racist experiences from professors and disappointing messages from peers who did not think that I was even qualified to make it past the doctoral interview. Statements and encounters like those hurt, and definitely triggers impostor syndrome. Sometimes it feels like I face struggles and pushback to this day.because of my race, age, and gender. You know, the intersection of those things. And honestly, I think I will face struggles and pushback for the rest of my days because I am a Black woman living. I was going to say “living in America” but just living, period. I always try to remind myself that I come from proud and strong people and that there are so many Black women that came before me and left a blueprint. And because of this reminder, I persevered and will continue to. It does not mean that I am not exhausted nor am I glorifying my struggles. I strongly believe that Black women deserve to rest and live a life of ease & encountering those struggles made me value rest and stillness so much.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am a writer. I have been writing since middle school and had my first poem published in the Library of Congress. I remember being so excited when my English teacher read my poem to the class. So, it is no surprise to me that I chose to earn my doctorate and conduct research because I view myself as a story teller, and researchers are storytellers. I am an applied developmental psychologist by training and currently work at the Child Development Institute at UNC Chapel Hill. As a researcher, I focus on parents’ ethnic-racial socialization practices, DEI initiatives in the educational outcomes of Black and Brown youth, neurodevelopmental disabilities, and the influence of socio-cultural factors on REM youth’s development. My storytelling comes out in the research that I do at my job, as well as in my writing and poetry. In 2018, I was selected to be part of the Penn State’s CUPSI team, which a poetry slam invitational and that year, we performed at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA. That experience was truly liberating and safe and gave me the confidence I needed to continue to pour into my art. In one of our bouts, I, along with two other women, wrote a poem on silence. We related to each other because we were all soft-spoken and relatively quiet people. And we wanted to explore that more as a collective. What about our life experiences made us find comfort in silence?
How do you think about happiness?
Sunlight makes me happy because I love its brightness and warmth. Having thriving plants makes me happy because green is one of my absolute favorite colors and the plants thriving speaks to my love and care, I believe. My nieces and nephews and God children make me happy because they have joyous and contagious spirits and remind me the importance of slowing down, taking deep breaths, and laughing and smiling whenever I can.
Pricing:
- A Black Woman’s Guide to Earning a PhD: $14.69
- Our Doctoral Journey: $16.69
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.nicoleatelfer.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drnicky_phd/
- Twitter: @nicoleatelfer
- Other: https://fpg.unc.edu/people/nicole-telfer
