Nikia Smith, MD
Dr. Nikia Smith, MD, is a physician, speaker, wellness coach, retreat host, and emerging Pilates instructor dedicated to helping high-achieving women of color recover from burnout and build sustainable, fulfilling lives. A board-certified anesthesiologist with more than a decade of clinical experience, she has built her career at the intersection of medicine, education, and holistic wellness. Through her private practice, Nikia Smith MD PLLC, she continues to provide compassionate patient care while also mentoring medical students and residents, with a strong focus on resilience, emotional well-being, and culturally informed healthcare.
After experiencing significant burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Smith began re-evaluating her relationship with work, success, and self-care. What started as her personal healing journey evolved into a broader mission to support other women facing similar exhaustion in demanding professions such as medicine, law, healthcare, and entrepreneurship. She is the founder of She Is Fire Forged, where she developed the RECLAIM™ Framework and leads coaching programs, workshops, and wellness retreats designed to help women move from constant survival mode to intentional rest, clarity, and alignment.
Today, Dr. Smith works part-time in clinical medicine while expanding her impact in the wellness space through speaking engagements, retreats, and community-based programs. She is passionate about redefining success beyond hustle culture and creating spaces where rest, joy, and self-trust are normalized. Outside of her professional work, she enjoys reading, travel, walking her dog, and continuing her own journey of growth and restoration. Through all her roles, she remains committed to one guiding message: sustainable success begins with well-being.
• Certified Coach
• Sound Bowl Certification
• Passion, Purpose, and Peace Award
• Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated
• American Board of Anesthesiologists
What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success and sense of professional fulfillment to mentoring and supporting medical students and residents, as well as to a long-standing commitment to helping others through my work.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
The advice I give to my mentees now is always you can do whatever you want. One of mine wanted to be a surgeon, but then she was like, I don't know if I would like that lifestyle. And I was like, well, I know a female surgeon who is the director of the surgery program, and she has built her schedule to the way that she needs it. So it's just like, don't let what has been historically the way stop you from creating your own way. We need more women in medicine. There's research that shows that patients who have female doctors have better outcomes, but we can't do it at the expense of ourselves. So I want more women to come into medicine, but I want them to come in in the right way.
What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I think the challenge is just the fact that women are fighting against the system. We were raised in a patriarchal system, we were at home, and now we're doing more, but we're still taking care of home and our jobs, and so basically, most women have at least 2 or 3 full-time jobs. You have your house, then you add a spouse, you add a kid, you add this and that, you add your parents, and suddenly you're just taking care of everything. It's just kind of an expectation that was placed upon us, so we feel like we have to take care of all of it, but I'm hoping that as we just start to push back, we can realize that we can delegate, we can just pass some things on, we don't have to take everything on ourselves. But I know that it's just a big battle, because if I told you to stop doing this and just take a nap, you would feel guilty. That initial feeling of guilt, or you should be doing something else, if you're taking care of yourself.
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The values most important to me in both my work and personal life are compassion, empathy, and mentorship. I also prioritize protecting well-being—both my own and that of those I work with—while maintaining a healthy work–life balance.
Locations
She Is Fire Forged
Las Vegas, NV 89141