Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

“My identity is more than the sum of my parts. And I surrender to the fluidity of its moving parts, knowing they are in an intricate dance, constantly shifting and molding together in ways to make room where every part matters and belongs.”
~Nicole Salmon

Those who know me very well know I go by several “also known as” monikers besides my official first name. However, my Nicole persona is the most readily and generally apparent – the knowledgeable and experienced nonprofit and fund development strategist, the deep thinker, thoughtful and wise leader, the learner, the trusted and dependable colleague and friend, the determined advocate for holistic societal justice, and more recently, the editor, writer, and poet. But there are other sides to me that only a few people outside my family would know. I will return to this later.

I have been a charitable and nonprofit/ social impact consultant for over ten years. In 2014, I founded Boundless Philanthropy, a name that finally felt right after coming up with nearly fifty other possibilities. The systematic and obsessing process of settling on a name may seem like an excessive effort to select a name; however, the intricacies of and use of words, language, and voice have always mattered, and with utmost certainty, I knew the chosen name had to be one I would embody and embrace. 

Much like my career in fundraising, moving into consultancy wasn’t a vision board goal I purposely designed and vigorously pursued. The best explanation I can offer as to how I got here may sound familiar to many: it was something entirely accidental that I “fell” into. In retrospect, maybe a series of disparate decisions guided me towards and along this path, and none was more significant than wanting to spend time with my aging Mom.  In AFP Global’s Our Right to Heal project, released in May 2020, is my story about how she influenced my decision about what had to be true about the type of work I chose to do.

Like many others who have chosen this path, I have faced the thrills and spills associated with self-employment, charting a course, figuring things out as I move along, and forging a path toward a fulfilled life – where my curiosity and creativity forms a self-propelling vortex expressed in all areas of my life. 

Regardless of the path I traverse, I don’t recall a time when I haven’t been guided by what sits at the core of who I am – someone always driven by an indelible sense of fairness and justice and its pursuit. This innate drive for fairness and justice has shaped my professional journey, influencing the work I choose to do and how I engage and move through the world. What that looks like is one of emergence and has expanded, stretched, deepened, and morphed with the influence of time and the people I have encountered from childhood to now. What continues to unfold with greater purpose and clarity is how my work and the services I offer as a consultant, my writings, and my poetry reflect who I am.  I bring curiosity and creativity to my consulting work, writing, and poetry.

Now, let's get back to revealing other sides of me. The voracious reader and the 'let’s get to the root,' mechanically minded Nicole are there. The one with a knack and determination to figure out how things work, and the one unafraid to pull apart, assemble, break down, reassemble, adapt, and rebuild.  The dependable, reliable Nicole for whom those who matter most – family, friends, colleagues, clients, and those I choose to be in community with - can count on me. 

There is the Nicole of my youth, the dancer and skilled soccer player, the parts of me that are not readily apparent unless you knew me back in the day. And then there’s the not-too-serious, mischievous, music and sports-loving, joyful, and funny Nicole. That’s the side of me revealed in this picture, taken by Sheldon Isaac , a fantastic photographer I reached out to after following him on LinkedIn because I found his content engaging; it often made me smile or laugh. I am not sure what Sheldon said to me that caused me to dissolve into such laughter that I failed to notice that he kept shooting. At that moment, he unlocked Nicky (or Nikki). This picture cracks me up – every time. Thanks, Sheldon!

Photo by Sheldon Isaac Images

Regardless of the Nicole persona encountered, I own up to them; they are all me. If you want to read more from me, I invite you to sign up to receive my musings & blogs where I guarantee the topics I dare to explore won’t be limited to the ‘work’ I do.