Nicole S. Mason is a businesswoman, an attorney, a speaker, an author, and a coach. Her business journey began in her grandmother’s dry-cleaning business where she served faithfully as the unofficial Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer. But a burning desire to help the less fortunate gain access to justice caused her to leave the business and attend college and law school after which she successfully operated her law practice for seven years. Nicole has obtained a Master of Law with a concentration in Litigation, and Dispute Resolution, a Degree in Divinity and a Leadership Coaching Certificate from Georgetown University and she is a member of the world-renowned International Coach Federation (ICF). She owns Strategies For Success, LLC, a Leadership Coaching Company.
Although Nicole had a strong desire from the age of nine to become a lawyer, that dream wasn’t going to drop in her laps. When the time was right, her determination to have her desire would be tested. She would apply nine times to law school and be rejected nine times. On the tenth time, she would be accepted but by this time she was visibly and heavily pregnant! Some students gasped as they wondered if she was planning on attending law school while pregnant. No doubt they pondered how she intended to cope with attending her lectures let alone pass her exams. Not only did she attend law school pregnant, but she passed her bar exams. Her story is evidence that if we want something badly enough and refuse to quit, at last, we will have it! Read Nicole’s interview and be inspired to keep reaching for your dreams despite the obstacles and the rejections.
Nicole, I read your bio, and I think that you’re a wonderful woman. It’s an honour to have you share your journey with us. I was hoping that you would first tell us about working in your grandmother’s dry cleaning business. You were working there unofficially as the chief operating officer and the chief financial officer. What was it like?
So, for me, it was second nature, and when you grow up around any kind of entity, it will have an impact on you. And so early on in my life, around eight or nine, my grandmother had me counting money, she had me ordering supplies, she had me waiting on customers. And so as I grew older, of course, those things I just did second nature. I was her right-hand person because I was there and it wasn’t like she was officially training me it was just I was there, and that’s what I was expected to do, and so I did that for many, many, years. But my grandmother was very adamant about me pursuing my own dreams, and at age nine, I knew I wanted to be a lawyer because I was always speaking up and speaking out about matters. And I think that also came from me being in the space with her in the business setting and watching her converse with other women in the community and how she was counselling people. And we talk about coaching now; many women were doing that long before these words were popular, coaching and mentoring and all of that because they were doing that with one another. But I also had the opportunity, if you will, to witness things that were not so well, you know. There were some of the women who had to raise children on their own. And my grandmother was a widow. And so all of those things and really having to fight for what she knew was right, you know, you don’t always have people that engage in business for the right reasons. Because she was a woman, one of two women business owners in the community at the time, she had to be very courageous and confident about engaging in business, so, for example, having to hire someone to take care of the building. There were many times when the men they would come in, and they would just give her some off the wall price because she was a woman and she was a widow. But my grandmother was very shrewd and very confident and very courageous, and she followed what she knew was right, and I’ve seen her turn away money because she’d say not all money is good money.
Wow! She sounds like a very wonderful woman.
She was. She was. Absolutely. I loved her dearly.
So what lessons and or experiences did you take away from that season of your life which have now helped you succeed in your current business?
So, there are many; I will just give you a few. Number one, like I just said, not every money is good money. So really understanding what I want to do and being very intentional about what I want to do and not doing everything, so that’s one thing. And number two, really standing up for myself and being unapologetic about who I am and what I bring to the table. And really transferring that to other women who engage with me, who hire me, who I mentor or coach, so that’s number two you know, being very intentional about being who you are. And then number three, really coming to understand that business is about service and about having compassion for people that God brings your way. And so I watched my grandmother, although many of those people in the neighbourhood were her clients, of course, I watched her being compassionate towards mothers and fathers who found themselves on crack because she was open of course in the middle of the crack epidemic in the D.C area. And how many of those children saw my grandmother as somebody they could talk to and her dry cleaners as a safe haven. So just a lot of compassion, and a lot of love, and a lot of truth, which did not always make people feel good and so I wanted that kind of spiritual energy, I will tell you the truth you may not like me but you’re going to respect me because it is the truth, you know. So those are just a few lessons.
Hmmm. Do you think building a relationship with the people that she served also helped her business to succeed?
Absolutely. Oh, absolutely. Because those people understood that my grandmother was not in the community trying to pilferage the community, but she was in the community to help. And that’s the difference between what I see now and what I experienced, and what I was exposed to growing up. And that’s not everybody, that’s not all businesses but for the most part people come into the community in which I see, in which I have experience with, really more so to make money versus being of service and building relationships with the people in such a way to be compassionate towards them to help them. I watched my grandmother help the people in the community. They didn’t always have the money to pay for their clothes, and they needed to go to work to keep their homes, and I watched her really sow into the lives of the people, not just her counsel, but when people didn’t have the money to pay for their dry cleaning, she just gave them the dry cleaning. And they always came back, and my grandmother was in business for over fifty years, so something was working very very well.
Yes, something was working. Awesome. So, what was it that made you decide to leave to pursue a degree and a career in law when you could have stayed on and possibly inherited the business?
So, as I mentioned a little earlier in our conversation, I knew at age nine that I wanted to be a lawyer. I loved, loved, loved Perry Mason and I particularly was intrigued at the end of every show where he had somebody on the stand, and he would just ask those questions in rapid succession, and the person would say, I did it, your honour, I’m guilty. And so I had that advocacy spirit all over me and like I said I was always the one speaking up for others and speaking out about matters and my grandmother saw that and she always encouraged education always, always. In fact, she was adamant that she did not want me to take over the business because she wanted me to go to school to further my education and to realise my dream of becoming an attorney. And that’s exactly what she helped me do, she was very adamant about that, and so for me, it wasn’t a choice it was this was what was in my heart to do and my grandmother did everything that she did in her powers to make that dream a reality and that’s exactly what happened.
Amazing! So, in hindsight, would you say that that decision was for the best and if so why?
I am a little conflicted with it now of course, but you know hindsight is twenty-twenty. Because I see now that I could have done both, but because at that time, my grandmother came from an era where you did one thing, and you did that forever. And that’s what she did but now of course because I am multitalented and multi-gifted, and I have a lot of things going on, I see how I could have continued to operate the business and expand the business as well as going to law school and have my practice and all these different things that I’m doing. But you have to be exposed to that kind of thinking, and so at that time, it just wasn’t the thought process to do that. The thought process was to go full force into law school, go practice law and deal with that. So I wouldn’t say it was a bad decision, it was the decision that was made at the time with the information and the exposure that I had at the time and the exposure that my grandmother had at the time. And so again, hindsight is twenty-twenty. But you know it’s worked beautifully because I have been very very successful, and that is because of the many sacrifices that my grandmother made for me to attend school, and I always say that her success was a matter of survival, my success, is a matter of choice. So, in the end, it turned out very well. If I could make some changes, I would have continued doing both but you know that’s hindsight, and hindsight again is always twenty-twenty.
Yes. So, you operated your law practice for about seven years and then ventured into coaching and speaking and even writing books. I am curious to know how and why you got into this line of work. So, will you please share with us that journey?
Sure, so I always wanted to be a lawyer but, I have to tell you when it came time for me to go to law school I applied to law school nine times and was rejected nine times. And so on the tenth time that I applied, I was accepted, and so I went on to law school, and that was really burning in my heart. But when it came time for me to take the bar exam, I accepted my call to preach, and that really changed the whole trajectory of my life. So much so that I have really been on this journey trying to breach the two, law and preaching ministry and serving others in the capacity of transforming their lives. And really it boils down to purpose and at the core of who I am my purpose is really to help people to find who God has created them to be. And so I also can do all of these things, and I know that so I moved very fluently from law to coaching and speaking and preaching and writing. I move very fluently in them now because I know that I can do all of those things, so it really is just a matter of what’s for me, is it writing a will? Okay, let’s write a will. Is it writing a chapter in a book for a book anthology? Okay. Is it writing a book of my own? Okay. Is it preparing for a speaking engagement? Okay. Is it a preaching engagement? Which are very different I might add there. And so it’s not really a matter of leaving one for the other as much as it is flowing in all of those particular areas and having these options for myself and that is what I believe my grandmother did for me. She helped me to create options in my life.
Hmmm. To broaden your horizon.
Absolutely.
Awesome. As a speaker and coach and as an author, who is your target audience, and what impact have you had on them thus far?
Okay. For me, my target audience has been women. And I’ve been able to write and preach and speak and help women to transform their lives in varied capacities; from women who had a desire to go to school to further their education, to get college degrees, to other women who had college degrees who wanted to further their education and some of them have gone on to complete their Ph.D. From women who found themselves broken in relationships and going on to be successfully married and in a very healthy relationship to women coming out of domestic violence into healthy self-esteem of themselves to move their lives forward, I’m just dealing with women and advocating for women and preaching and ministering and coaching and counselling and mentoring women for almost twenty years now. So for me, my writing can go to places that I may never go, and so I write with that thought in mind. Some of my writing here of late has been more targeted and focused on high achieving women. And to me, that means women who are leaders in ministry and the market place, women who are movers and shakers. Because what I’ve come to know is that the higher women go up, whatever their vocation or industry might be, the less they have of support where they can really be themselves and let their hair down. And so I’m really focusing now on the high achieving woman, the woman that everybody looks to and thinks that she has it going on, but yet in the midnight hour she is broken on the inside. That’s the woman that I’m after now because I understand that that is the market that people overlook. And sometimes it works for people to stay in these high-power positions that they’re not really happy with, you know. They’re successful but not satisfied. And so that’s my next book I’m working on, Successful But Not Satisfied. Because most people who are working these jobs, they’re making a lot of money, but that’s not really what is in their heart to do. And I’ll give you a perfect example, one of my clients, she worked for the Obama administration, you know, very nice job making good money. But she was miserable because she wanted to be continuing to do event planning which was her business prior to taking that position. And she was miserable, and so I came along, and she hired me as a coach, and I began to coach her to help her formulate an exit strategy from that because guess what? Everybody around her supported this paradigm of her as a successful person working at the Obama administration, and it worked for everybody around her but her. And so, that’s my target audience at this particular time.
Sounds very interesting. So, why do you do what you do, whether it’s working as an attorney speaker or coach or writer what is it that you are seeking to attain?
So, for me, I get fulfillment in seeing other people win. I get fulfillment in seeing other women come into themselves. What I mean by that is to walk confidently and courageously and competently in who God has created them to be. So, I do this work, because number one, I’m called to do it. That’s number one, and that’s critically important for me and then number two it’s purposeful and purpose-filled now that’s two different things. It’s purposeful because I also get to operate my giftings and my talents and my skills where there is advocacy in law, where there is advocacy advocating for God that I love, for people to come to know Him. That’s a huge part of my core. Or if it’s even speaking a transformational message of this great gospel that I love so that people can know that you are brilliant and beautiful, and you cannot apologise for that. Because the world has got people mixed up; that we are supposed to follow the statutes quo and conform when it’s just the opposite. We are to be unique because there isn’t another person on the planet that has your unique fingerprint or footprint and so we have been birth into the earth to make a difference. So, I do this work so that other women can come to know that they are unique, and they ought to show up great and they ought to show up with power and with boldness and conviction to execute their purpose and in a fulfilling way and to live purposeful lives.
Hmm. You sound very passionate about this. So, I guess you would say that this is definitely your life’s assignment?
Oh absolutely. I’m clear on that. Absolutely.
You sound like you’re clear on that.
Oh yes, I am. Very. I’m very clear. (She laughs) Trust me; I am very clear. I know what God has called me to do. I don’t apologise for it, and wherever you find me, you’ll find me speaking into the lives and the hearts of women. To encourage them to be who God has called them to be without apologies. I walk in confidence I speak and preach in confidence, and it is my heart’s desire that other women grab and hold to the confidence and do likewise.
Great. You’re an author and a contributing author. How many books have your authored so far?
So, I have authored four books of my own, one of which is translated into Spanish and I’m so excited about that. And I’m a contributing author of nine books, and I just released my own first book collaboration that has received a tremendous response from people all over the country called Faith for Fiery Trials. So I’m so excited about that. But again, writing is a part of my life, it is a part of who I am, and I believe that our writing can go to places that we may never go to. And we are obligated to send out this great gospel in various forms, social media, writing, speaking, preaching, all these different forms. So yeah.
Hmm. So, will you please tell us about one of your books? Perhaps one that’s your favourite?
You know, I don’t have a favourite because I love all of them. I think one of the ones that I am very pleased with is called, Maintain Your Momentum: Success Quotes for High Achieving Women. And that book is very very dear to me because I know the power in quotes number one, and then also I know the power in being able to have some encouragement just in a few seconds. And so that’s very very important to me and also in this book, in addition to giving the quotes I also expound upon it with real-life experience so let me just read one real quick for you. And it says “high achieving women wear many different hats. They have not always embraced this reality about themselves because others made them feel like it was abnormal to be all those things. Then one day it all clicked in their lives that it is okay to be all these things; in fact, it is normal. They come to embrace that it is how they were built or created. They still rest in knowing that being great in various capacities is not just normal; it is their space of being.” And so that quote, it really talks about what just what we talked about a few moments ago about all these different things and exercising all of these different gifts in the earth without feeling bad about it. Because people will make you feel like you just need to do one thing, well no, if God has given you multiple gifts you are required to use multiple gifts this was the whole thing about the parable of the talent. One had one; one had two, one had five. And Jesus wanted them to use all of them that is the whole concept of the parable. He doesn’t want to come and find out that you were scared just to use the one. No, if He’s given you multiple talents, you are required to use all of those talents. And so for me, this book is a confirmation to high achieving women to be all that they were created to be. And I use various parts of my personal life to expound on these particular quotes to make the point and to drive it home, and so this one is very good, I love it. Maintain Your Momentum: Success Quotes for High Achieving Women.
Awesome. So, where can people get your books to buy?
Sure. They can go right to my website, and I’ll be happy to send an autographed copy, and that is nicolesmason.com, and if they want to go to Amazon, they’re there as well.
Great. Nicole, what is the most fulfilling project that you have worked on thus far?
I think the most fulfilling thing that I have done to date is to finish law school and pass the bar exam because that was something that was very very near to my heart since the age of nine. It was really accomplishing that and like I said I applied nine times and I was rejected nine times. I remember speaking at a women in business conference, and somebody asked me, did you get tired of getting rejected? And I said, no. I don’t think I allowed myself to even get to that point. Because I just thought in my heart nobody was going to deny me; it didn’t matter to me how many times it took, I was going to get into somebody’s law school. Because I knew in my heart that I was supposed to be a lawyer since I was nine so I didn’t care about the rejections, I just kept going and kept going and kept going. And I have to share this with you, on the tenth time, when I was accepted, I walked into the room to go for orientation, and I could hear people gasp for air, and they were gasping for air because I walked in big, round, and pregnant. So not only did I get rejected but I was pregnant at the time, and the sentiment for some of those people was, is she really going to try this, while she’s pregnant? And my answer was a resounding, yes. And as God would have it, one of the women who started at the same time with me, unbeknownst to me, she knew me, I didn’t know her, we went to the same church. My home church is a big church, and I didn’t know her, but she knew me because I was already preaching. And she came up to me at the end of the orientation, and she said, I’m going to make sure that you get all the classes when you go out to have your baby. I’m going to record them and bring you the lecture, so you won’t miss anything. And that’s exactly what she did, and that is because the hand of God was upon me and God knew I was pregnant, and He knew this was going to be the right opportunity, and it was. And guess what? Those people who gasped for air, they dropped out, I finished and passed the bar.
That’s really inspiring. Thank you for sharing that. So what advice do you have for women who are listening and especially those who would like to be a lawyer like you, or they would like to be a speaker a coach or author?
So, my one advice I would give is that you show up in life confidently. I think confidence is the key to success and you have to be confident in yourself because you will encounter obstacles, you will encounter opposition and number one, your confidence has to be intact. Meaning that you have to feel really good about who you are and why you are there. And then number two, your why for doing whatever it is that you say you want to do has to be bigger than the obstacles and oppositions that you will face. So, you have to have a big why, and you have to have a big you, right? And that means be okay with being big in the room. Meaning that when you come in people turn to see who you are, and you have to be okay with that because I believe that God sends each one of us here to be main characters in our lives and that means that the spotlight will indeed be on you because it’s your life. But many women I’ve come across over the years, doing the work that I do, are okay with and want to be a supporting actress in their own life meaning that they want to be in the background. But that is not who you were created to be. You have to be in the forefront of your own life, navigating it and steering it with the help of God to get where God wants you to be. And be okay with the naysayers, and to be okay with the haters and to be okay with the people who say you can’t do it. And to be at the forefront of your own success and charting your own route of success and doing it with such a conviction and such a confidence that it makes others take note of what you are doing.
Wow! Very powerful advice. Thank you so much for sharing that. That really blessed me.
Oh, excellent! I’m glad. That’s always my intent, you know, to walk away from another woman and leave her better than when I found her. Always.
Awesome. So how can the readers contact you if they would like to know more about you and what you do?
Okay. Sure. So, they can certainly go to my website, nicolesmason.com there’s a contact page there, they can send me a message, it comes right to me. And across social media, it’s Nicole S. Mason except Facebook, that’s my full name, Nicole Sherron Mason.
