Nicole D.W. Monia

I attribute my success to being honest and flawed, and taking that as an honor badge. If somebody comes up to you and they tell you that they're perfect and everything goes right, run. There are skeletons in their closet somewhere. I think that if you are an influential woman, you have to have some wins in order to have anything great in life, and those wins come with losses. And that's what makes you influential. That makes you honest. Everything that I do, I do from a place of integrity, and I do it from my heart. I'm not a person that has come across me that can tell you that she did anything in a mean spirit. I may have done something in a stern spirit, but I will never do anything that is meant to hurt you at all. Everything I do is for you. You cannot have wins without having losses. You can't be disappointed without being an honest person, and that's me, and I'm flawed, but I take it as an honor badge. I can go from having a million dollars driving a Maserati to having to drive a $500 busted Honda and go to a food pantry to get food. I know both ends of the spectrum.

The best advice I received was from someone who told me, if you don't appreciate yourself and brag on yourself, who's gonna do it? I didn't even think about that before. You can inspire and change the world just by being you and allow the world to see that people are not perfect and they do make mistakes, as it is the only way to learn. I also had excellent mentors like Clerk Leon Wright, Kevin McNamara, and Angela Sherbine, and the retired treasurer for the city of Ypsilanti who got me into government and got me my foot in the door. I want to make sure I give everybody their props who at least got me in the door.

You can have a successful career in a field that you love and can grow and allow you to flourish and empower others.

Right now, we're dealing with a lot of angry citizens because we have a data center that's coming into the area, and you wouldn't think it would hit HR, but it did. When your board is getting threats, or your board is getting really just constant berating in board meetings, and they have to sit there and take it, and you have angry people filling up your parking lot, it kind of puts you on edge a little bit. You're constantly worried about the employees, and what is their mindset right now. How are they feeling? You kind of have to watch and be concerned about other people, and you have to not worry about yourself as much anymore. It's just really an uncomfortable time for us right now. I can't even do basic fun employee events because we don't know what the people are gonna do, or how they're gonna twist it. It is the hardest thing for me to do when I have to let somebody go. What they see is me doing my job, but when I get home, I have been drained, it's like my soul has been sucked out of me.

Everything I do is in the spirit of helping. That's why my 501c3 is there, which is why I do my crazy podcast, what I call shenanigans. Everything I do kind of melds together, and I just feel like you may have a lot of influential women out there who will only talk about the greatest things and all of their accomplishments, but you cannot have wins without having losses. I'm flawed, but I take it as an honor badge. I love spending time with my grandkids. My newest one is 18 months, and I just had him a weekend, and he hooked my butt. My oldest is 17, she's in Texas, and I plan on going to see her this summer. Me and my husband, I'm recently remarried, we just got remarried last year, so we're about to have our first anniversary in September. We just like just relaxing, going to some small local concerts, and just enjoying each other, really. Just quiet time. I love to cook. I love bartending at home. I have my food license as well as my bartending license, and I can do this on the side for people. I do it for the people that I love. I like making homemade cocktail syrups. Last night I made a fig brown sugar cocktails syrup for a bourbon. It's fun, I really like to cook and create.