Nicole is a passionate community member who uses the tools of social science and evaluation to help organizations and communities improve their work. She joined Wilder in 2001.

She has expertise in poverty and intergenerational wealth-building, housing and homelessness, education, workforce development and entrepreneurship, policing, and the missing and murdered Indigenous relatives epidemic. Nicole wrote her dissertation about how to help families get out of poverty, and she has spent her career researching topics and programs related to supporting families. She specializes in Indigenous and culturally responsive research and evaluation methodologies, community-engaged and arts-based approaches, and facilitating groups, especially around using data to make good decisions.

Nicole has worked with her colleagues and in the community to conduct impactful research and facilitation projects such as the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Task Force, Speaking for Ourselves, the Statewide and Reservation Homeless Studies, a critical history project about the Wilder Foundation, the Community and Family Resource Network, Saint Paul Children’s Collaborative, and the Economic Mobility Hub for American Indians.

Nicole has a doctorate in sociology from the University of Minnesota, a master’s degree in public policy from the Humphrey School, and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota with a double major in psychology and sociology. She is grateful for the teachings and wisdom she has learned from elders and community leaders during her time doing work with and for the community.

Nicole volunteers in the Twin Cities community, including Montessori American Indian Childcare Center board of directors, Dream of Wild Health capital campaign development committee, and Department of Indian Work advisory committee.

Nicole is a mom to two great kids and one German Shorthair Pointer. She’s also a wife and a daughter, a sister, and an aunt. She strives to be a good relative to everyone she meets.

Read her Minnesota Compass blog post on Race Data Disaggregation: What Does it Mean? Why does it Matter?
Read this University of Minnesota alumni news profile of Nicole’s lived and research experience with blood quantum: Reclaiming Identity: How the Red Lake Nation (and Other Tribal Nations) are Moving Past Blood Quantum.