Michelle Nichols Winner of the 2008 Governor's Award for Distinguished Start-up of the Year

Michelle Nichols, center, with Governor Jim Gibbons, right, and Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki, left, presenting her award.

Michelle Nichols with Archie, the hairy guy on the right, mascot of the Reno Aces AAA baseball team.

Present Work

Michelle Nichols was the Savvy Selling columnist for BusinessWeek.com for six years. She now devotes her full time efforts to speaking and writing for corporate audiences to encourage their working parent employees to hug their kids.

In 2008, she started the Hug Your Kids Today program, wrote the handbook - Hug Your Kids Today!
5 Key Lessons for Every Working Parent - and created a national holiday - National Hug Your Kids Day - July 21, 2008. The holiday will be July 20, 2009 and the third Monday of July in future years.

Ms. Nichols was spurred to start this new work in memory of her son, Mark Nichols, who died suddenly at age 8 1/2 years old in 1998, from brain cancer. She now shares her insights on life, business, and being a working parent, with other working parents nationwide.

In November 2008, her company won the Nevada 2008 Governor's Award for Distinguished Start-up of the Year. Companies up to three years old were eligible to be nomiated. What's amazing she'd only started the work 8 months before.

 

Readers of her book, fellow businesspeople and attendees of her presentations say:

"You made me laugh, cry and think." Alternate Public Defender, Jennifer Lunt
"Although I don't have any children, this book drew me in. " Community relations manager for a large public utility, Karen Ross
"My thanks to Michelle for writing this book and teaching us that sometimes the complex issues of balancing work and family can be solved with a sense of humor...and lots of hugs!" Lighting designer, Lee Harris
"I admire Michelle Nichols...With the gumption and drive Nichols has, this event (National Hug Your Kids Day) will continue to grow." Newspaper columnist, Siobhan McAndrew

Click here for more testimonials

Prior Work

In her years with BusinessWeek, Ms. Nichols also recorded 45 interview-style podcasts for BusinessWeek. They ranked near the top 20 in the world for sales podcasts. Her first guest was Mr. Zig Ziglar. She also was a professionals speaker and consultant. Ms. Nichols has spoken to thousands of salespeople. Her clients included Hewlett-Packard, Hibernia Bank, the National Association of Business Owners and the Association of Association Executives.

During her years with BusinessWeek, once a year she wrote a column about the struggle to juggle the heavy demands of work and family. As she studied and thought about the emerging idea of "work-life balance," she realized it was the wrong conversation, the wrong goal entirely! Instead of balancing livelihoods and lives, she came to see that it was wiser - and saner - to prioritize "family first and work a close second."

Prior to her association with BusinessWeek.com, she was a long-time professional salesperson and two-time entrepreneur.

Ms. Nichols is a member of the prestigious National Speaker's Association, past Chair of the Sales speakers at NSA and current leader of the Reno chapter of NSA.

Some candid photos of Michelle Nichols and her life.

"It's show time!"	My husband, me and my 6-foot tall teenage daughter, just before they announced I'd won the 2008 Governor's Award.	If you see my white Chevy Tahoe with this plate, wave at me.

 

Formal education

Ms. Nichols graduated from the University of California at Davis with Highest Honors in 3 1/4 years with a B.S. in Agricultural and Business Economics. She had internships at a major investment brokerage and a financial planning company. She has since read over 300 books on sales, marketing and business and taken dozens of sales and business classes.

Personal

Ms. Nichols has been married to Ron for over 20 years. They are the parents of three children, a Golden Retriever, and a red-eared slider turtle named "James Pond." She has lived and worked on all three coasts - New Jersey, Texas and California. She and her family now live in Reno, Nevada. For fun, she likes to drive her travel trailer around the U.S. to visit friends, family and historical sites, play the stock market, read chick lit, grow roses and tomatoes in her garden, and bake chocolate chip cookies.

Questions?

Please contact Michelle Nichols. She and her team are here to serve YOU!