Today we’d like to introduce you to Nicole Christie.
Nicole, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I’m a professional storyteller—as a writer, podcaster (Here For Me podcast), and entrepreneur (founder of Tulla Productions, a multimedia storytelling studio)—and have been spinning yarns since I was a tiny tot. When I was 4, I narrated family road trips into a cassette player. At 7, I penned my first short story, Nancy the Nanny Goat, and throughout elementary school, my passion for Judy Blume’s truthful tales fueled me to write my own chapter books, which my teachers read to the class at story time. At 12, I became the youngest person to place in the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest. My story and photo made the front page of the local paper, which was nifty and convinced me I might be onto something, so I kept writing.
Over the years, my passion for words evolved into a career in corporate storytelling and communications, copywriting, essay writing, features journalism, scriptwriting, and speechwriting. Prior to founding Tulla in 2022, I was founding principal and creative director of NICO, a boutique firm specializing in brand and marketing communications for Fortune 100 companies, including Pfizer, Microsoft, Kraft, Disney, and American Express, and spent a decade leading global employee and executive communications at Microsoft. I hosted the company’s Modern Communications webcast series; was one of three employees (out of 180,000) hand-selected to regularly moderate the Employee Town Hall with Chairman & CEO Satya Nadella and the senior leadership team; and co-hosted and produced the podcast Managers 1:1, a storytelling series with Microsoft leaders about their journey managing people.
Between 2019 and 2022, I experienced multiple traumas that changed how I see the world, as well as how I show up in it and for myself. All of that left me craving open, honest, vulnerable conversations about what it means to be a human in this world—the kind I think we need a lot more of. In October 2022, I launched my podcast, Here For Me, to talk with people about their life disruptions, derailments, and transitions, and how they steered their lives back on course and learned to show up for themselves with the love, honor, compassion, and encouragement they readily give to others.
Finally, I’m a lifelong comedy nerd and studied and performed improv and sketch comedy in New York with Groundlings alum Holly Mandel and Second City veteran Armando Diaz. Midwest-born (Wisconsin) and Northwest-bred (Seattle), I’m thrilled to be here in San Diego where, after a lifetime of yearning and dreaming, I get to call the beach, sun, and palm trees home.
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?
I think most roads are paved with speed bumps and potholes, hills and valleys—mine is no exception.
For me, the twists and turns started with the end of a 15-year relationship, which was amicable but still life-altering and pushed me to finally move to New York, a place I’d wanted to live and work since I was six years old after discovering it on the copyright page of a book. I’ve been an avid reader since I was a child and knew I wanted to be a writer from a young age, so I thought, “That’s where books are made. I must go there.” I lived in New York for just over four years and loved it—I really believe if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere. It’s wildly inspiring, grueling, gritty, and glamorous all at the same time. It’s where I started meeting other creatives, publishing my writing, and studying and performing improv—things I’d long dreamed of doing.
But the biggest challenges and lessons began in June 2019. I contracted hand, foot, and mouth disease (no one knows how as it’s prevalent in children, and I neither have kids nor had been around kids) and experienced a rare autoimmune reaction called erythema multiforme, which resulted in painful, target-shaped lesions all over my body and inside my mouth. I couldn’t eat, drink, or take the medications given to me, lost eight pounds in a week, and was eventually hospitalized for another week to receive IV medication, hydration, and nutrients. Ultimately, I lost multiple layers of skin and all my toenails. It took nine months for my skin to fully heal and for me to walk normally given how deep this ate into my flesh, and it was two years before my toenails were back to normal.
Just as I healed from this ordeal—in March 2020, a time none of us will forget—I found a lesion inside my lower left eyelid. Due to COVID restrictions, I wasn’t able to have it evaluated until July 2020, when I learned it was a rare form of ocular cancer. There are only ~300 ocular oncologists in the world and 0 in San Diego, so I was treated at USC in LA for eight months, which included two surgeries, six monthly immunotherapy treatments (straight into my eye), and immunotherapy eye drops I administered at home four times a day for six months (which had to be kept at 37 degrees and cost $750 a vial). On my last day of treatment, I learned the cancer had returned, and given its aggressive nature, I had to have a radical surgery we’d been trying to avoid. In April 2021, I had half of my lower eyelid removed and reconstructed (along with my tear duct as the cancer had settled there as well) with UC San Diego Health’s world-renowned oculoplastic surgeon, Dr. Don Kikkawa. In June 2021, he confirmed I was cancer-free and set me on the path of self-discovery that led me to where I am today.
I left Microsoft in October 2021 and took a few months off to rest and recharge before starting Tulla in January 2022. During my cancer treatment, I’d also recognized that my marriage was emotionally and verbally abusive, and started working with a therapist who specializes in abuse recovery. I continued that treatment through January 2022, then turned my focus to my physical well-being with a return to Pilates and strength training to get my body as strong as my heart and mind. I’d parked the idea for Here For Me on the back burner while I got through cancer treatment, but started production in April 2022. In September 2022, I left my marriage, and a month later, launched Here For Me.
I’ve walked through fire the last four years, but I wouldn’t change anything. Sometimes everything has to burn to the ground to be rebuilt so you can be rebooted and reborn. I’ve had several opportunities to start over in my life, but this time is different. I’m aligned with what’s meant for me and with my purpose—and for that, I’m grateful. I truly learned how to be here for myself, honor myself, and respect myself. I love walking this path and can’t wait to experience what’s ahead.
That’s a lot to go through in a very short period of time, but it’s great to hear it led you to the path that’s right for you. Can you tell us a bit more about that, specifically your work?
As a storyteller, I tell my own stories and help others tell theirs, whether in writing, in a keynote presentation, on a podcast, or on camera. I’m known for stories that entertain, inform, make people feel all the feels, and facilitate healing. My goal as a storyteller is for people to laugh, cry, swear, learn something, and step into their power in as little as 300 words. I do that through the solo episodes of my podcast, as a speaker, and an essayist. I also work with organizations and notable people on developing and telling their stories to connect with audiences in a meaningful way.
I’m not afraid to talk about the hard, messy stuff, whether I’m telling my own stories, talking with others about theirs on my podcast, or coaching a client on telling their story. I’m the antithesis to the highlight reel of social media, the one who’s pushing us to illuminate our dark corners, do the work to heal our wounds, and share all of that through the power of raw, candid, emotional stories. When we do this, we see the threads of continuity that connect us as humans—that’s how we know, as an infamous quote states, that we’re all fighting a hard battle. That we need to be kind and compassionate with each other. Whether I’m doing that through my own storytelling or working with others to tell theirs, I start from a place of honesty and courage, a place of authenticity where we’re trying to connect rather than impress.
What do you like and dislike about the city?
I love the natural beauty, relaxed vibe, and kindness of the people who live here. For me, the beach is the epitome of nature—it’s the only form of outdoors I need. When I moved from Seattle in 2019, I found myself breathing more easily, and I believe it’s for these reasons. That said, I do miss some of the hustle I experienced in New York and Seattle, but I can always venture up the road to LA when I need that fix.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.nicolechristie.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nicolejchristie/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolechristie/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQFFYQFJx3LigzB-1TSl5fg
- Other: http://www.hereformepodcast.com
Image Credits
Kristi Tamcsin
Jessica McCalla
Amy Senftleben
