Nicola spent the majority of her childhood in Perth where she completed a degree in Asian studies, with a double major in Marketing and Japanese.

She has spent time working in the energy, water and mining sectors and in trade & investment with those roles seeing her work in Perth, London, Port Hedland, Melbourne and now Geelong.

Nicola works for WorkSafe Victoria, heading up the Research Team.  She started out with WorkSafe managing stakeholder engagement & communications and played a large part in the project team for integration of WorkSafe to Geelong and  community partnerships.  She then spent time in External Affairs, as a manager in the Legislations, Policy and Information Services and then led the Strategic Response for Silica. 

She has competed the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) Course.

She has been involved in the judging for the Give Where You Live grants, Pako Festa and enters her sixth year as a Geelong Business Excellence Awards judge.

She is a mentor for the female networking group in Geelong, Business in Heels and also a mentor for the Women at WorkSafe mentoring program.

She loves to be active and takes her love of sport to the boardroom as a commissioner for AFL Barwon, now in her 8^th year. She's also passionate about youth mental health and with 3 children wants to make a difference through her involvement as a Board Member for Read the Play.

 Outside of working life, Nicola enjoys spending time with her family, cycling, yoga and travelling!