Meet Nikki, a McGill B.Com. graduate who didn’t want to work at a bank, didn’t want to sit at a desk from nine to five, and didn’t want to just live for the weekends. Nikki’s story takes many twists and turns, and what was originally supposed to be an article about pilates and the fitness industry turned into a story about taking chances and doing what you love.
Nikki pursued business because she felt like it was the right thing to do, yet didn’t have the slightest idea what career she was headed for.
“If you had asked me when I was twenty if I would become a pilates teacher, I would have had no clue. I didn’t even know what pilates was,” Nikki explained.
She studied psychology and marketing at “Bronfman High,” as she calls it, and spent her nights waitressing on St. Laurent. Nikki’s undergrad was much like that of any other McGill management student: walking from Bronfman to the library to the “McGill Ghetto” and back again. Wanting to break out of boredom, Nikki decided to try a SSMU mini-course, and she and her boyfriend signed up for a Latin dance class. Having exclusively practiced jazz and tap dance, she was new to ballroom, yet immediately got immersed in it. While her friends were scouting out internships, she was dancing, bartending and travelling, fueled by her “you’re only young once attitude.”
Just before the start of her fourth year at McGill, Nikki’s life changed forever. While hiking in the Swiss Alps, her boyfriend got into an accident and passed away. Her last year was a complete blur. She stopped dancing and threw herself into school, making it through a dauntingly rough year. After losing her boyfriend, she decided that life was too short and that this was a wakeup call.
Nikki told herself, “If you’re going to take a risk, do it now.” Here is where her story gets interesting. Unsure what career path to follow, she brought her resume on a cruise and got a job offer as a Latin dance teacher in Mexico. Remembering her love of dance that she shared with her boyfriend, she took the job immediately.
She had an unforgettable time teaching and doing what she loved, but she was still unsure about where she was headed. Discouraged by the thought that dance was not a viable career, she decided that her only option was go back to school. She chose to study journalism because she liked writing, but she felt pressured to find a suitable career.
Nikki got an internship at Providence, Rhode Island-based news station WPRI and her journey took yet another turn.
While in a press box, a petite and unassuming Nikki spotted a man wearing a Stanley Cup ring and she decided to strike up a conversation. The man introduced himself as Brian Burke, and little did she know Nikki was speaking with the general manager of American hockey team, the Anaheim Ducks, a bigwig in the sports industry. She didn’t know a drop pass from a faceoff, but saw this as an opportunity to network.
“You really have to be outgoing. You can’t be afraid to strike up conversation,” Nikki explained.
After chatting with Burke for some time, he put her into contact with the hiring department at The Sports Network (TSN), and the next thing she knew she was a floor director at the TSN studio.
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Despite having a job that all her friends wished they had, she was still not feeling challenged and still living at home. Her dance experience got her a job as a ballroom dance instructor. Disheartened by her paycheck, which was pennies compared to anything in big-time journalism, Nikki tried to think of it as apprenticeship.
She explained, “People don’t like hearing that word [apprenticeship], but if anything, it created that fire in my belly to say, ‘I can do this better.’”
Tired of teaching box-steps to beginners seven days per week, Nikki had to make a serious career choice.
“Whatever it was that I wanted to do, I knew that wanted to be an expert,” she said.
At age twenty-six, Nikki finally found where she could develop her expert knowledge in a field that she loved. After a knee-injury, a friend recommended that she try pilates to help her recover. Nikki realized that it was the ideal combination of all things she loved: dance, movement, and helping others. She decided to intensively study pilates and worked tirelessly to get every opportunity she could, drawing on her marketing background to promote her pilates service. Nikki called every physiotherapy clinic she could get a hold of and began helping clients who were suffering injuries including everything from osteoporosis to scoliosis. Working with physiotherapists, she learned much more than the average pilates instructor.
Nikki stressed, “Whatever you want to get good at, put yourself in an environment where there are experts around you.”
From that point on, Nikki’s business quickly grew. Fired by a drive to keep reinventing herself, she developed a program for post-natal pilates, as well as dance-movement therapy for those with Parkinson’s Disease.
“I’m the expert they come to,” Nikki excitedly explained.
Career decisions are some of the most stressful and impossible choices twenty-somethings must make and Nikki’s advice can resonate with everyone.
“So you went to McGill and want to be a hair stylist. Take your knowledge and open a chain of hair salons. Create a new line of products,” she explained. In the same vein, she urges an engineering student who would rather be holding a makeup brush that operating a total station to “find a way to engineer the best foundation a girl could ask for.”
She strongly encourages girls to rise to the top, no matter what they want to pursue, whether it’s engineering, medicine, or interior design.
“It’s about being okay with loving what you love.”
Nikki explained that it took her a while to settle into her career because she rejected this very statement for so long. Yet it’s no doubt that students feel pressured by their parents and even their friends to pursue a certain career. There are very few who haven’t heard the “doctor or lawyer spiel” time after time.
“You’re always going to have the people who mean well, but won’t be supportive influences,” Nikki said, “You should seek advice from the right people, those who you trust and that you know are going to support you regardless.”
This was integral to giving her the confidence to become an entrepreneur.
Although she gets to be her own boss, Nikki stressed that it’s not all fun and games, “Follow your passion, but be prepared to work really hard.”
When asked her job title Nikki replied, “Pilates teacher, post-natal fitness expert, and dancer, and most definitely not TSN reporter.”
For Nikki, it took time to find what she loved, but now she couldn’t be happier.
Nikki’s boyfriend Dave was also a B.Com. student at McGill. Dave’s Store, a student-run store in the basement of the Bronfman building, was re-named in his honour, as he worked there as a cashier during his time at McGill. It’s also home to the mural that Nikki painted in his memory. Go take a look at it. It will make you smile.
Images provided by the interviewee.