Name: Nomiki Kalikatzaros
Year: Freshman
Major: Communication Sciences & Disorders
Do you have a minor in mind? I plan to declare Teaching as my minor as soon as I am able to. I want to work in the school system and my backup plan is to become a teacher.
Hometown: Whitestone, Queens, New York
Likes: Succulents, music, tea, coconut oil, and falafels.
Dislikes: Zucchini, turtlenecks, negative people, zoos, and ghost stories.
Why did you choose Pace? I’ve always wanted to live in the city and they have an amazing Speech and Hearing clinic for my major.
Why did you choose your major? Is there any personal history behind it or are you just interested in the material? Throughout high school, I volunteered with children who had autism and I knew I wanted to work with children with disabilities. I researched what I could do and found out about speech pathologists, or a person who helps people with their speech impediments or swallowing issues, and I had friends who were also into this.
What are some of your favorite things about being a vegan? My favorite thing about being a vegan is that the food is phenomenal. It’s also self-gratifying and makes me happy because I am eating food that wasn’t produced at the harm of an animal. It makes me happy that I can look at an animal and think “I haven’t eaten you.” You can’t love animals and eat them at the same, so being a vegan satisfies that.
Where have you lived in your life thus far? What was your favorite place? I lived in Youngstown, Ohio, Staten Island, New York, Queens, New York, and here in Manhattan. My favorite place is here for sure because New York City is a place where you can be yourself unapologetically and that’s not a quality many other cities have.
Your birthday is on Saturday the 19th of November! What was the best birthday gift or gesture you’ve ever received? Last year my friends surprised me and had my boyfriend drive in from Ohio to visit me and they threw a big surprise party. It was nice because I had all the people that I loved and loved me together in one place. It had been almost three months since I had seen my boyfriend at that point.
What is the one thing about yourself that you are proudest of? I think my journey to self-love and self-acceptance is something I’m most proud of. It’s important to love yourself before you love anyone else. If you can’t love yourself first, it is hard to love someone else.
You recently got a tattoo of the symbol for the female gender. What was your reasoning behind that? Do you have plans for future tattoos? My whole life I have viewed being a girl as a negative thing and as a disadvantage. Recently, I learned that being a woman is very empowering. In my Women’s Studies course this semester, it inspired me to appreciate my femininity as a powerful tool in my life and to appreciate the struggles and achievements of fellow women across the world. I hope for my next tattoo to be a symbol of Earth and that is a circle with a cross within it. I want that because I think that we are all human and come from the same place and I think it’s important to humble ourselves and realize that. That’ll just be a constant reminder to myself to be humble and to respect people and the Earth that I live on.