Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Bri Nichols. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Bri, thanks for joining us today. Have you ever had an amazing boss, mentor or leader leading you? Can you us a story or anecdote that helps illustrate why this person was such a great leader and the impact they had on you or their team?

I’ve only ever had a few supervisors as I was not in the workforce long before deciding to become an entrepreneur. However, in that short time, I encountered some of the best supervisors and some of the worst. I don’t particularly like to use the word “boss” because I believe that ultimately we are our own bosses and maintain autonomy over our bodies and our decisions. So these people, I simply reference as supervisors or managers which are their appropriate titles language is huge for me.
Mary Osorio, and I always mention her by name and give credit where it’s due. She was one of the toughest supervisors I had in that time, but she showed so much care, compassion, and leadership, which has had her in her role, at least 10 years prior to my time there and definitely 10 years post my time there. She did not micromanage, but she did manage expectations. When I fell short, she didn’t just say you did a thing wrong, but she would sit me down and explain how to do it better and on a personal level when she seen that, my head wasn’t all the way in the game she would take me out to lunch and try to figure out how we could figure out solutions so that I could show up better at work.
Little does she know she really gave me my first lesson and the importance of branding. I was the front desk person or as the cute title would say customer relation specialist meaning I was the first point of contact for anyone entering the The building, no matter which business they were going to. She emphasize to me how much I was the face of the business, including being on the website at that time, and that how I greeted people would determine how they view their interactions, no matter what happened after they met me.
And oh was she absolutely right! I found myself in situations where I had to exhibit self control in areas. I didn’t know I had it, but I can’t say that it was all on my own because she had done a significant amount of coaching to get me to the place of showing that self control.
For context, I worked at the state career center where most people were mandated to go after they had lost their jobs and we’re on unemployment, which was also in the office. So you can imagine that most people were not happy by time they were approaching my desk. I’ve had unhappy customers ball up tickets that I did not issue to them and throw them in my face and I had to keep it cool because I was the face.
This later, translated into my personal branding and understanding that no matter how many businesses or brands I start my face is the face until I build out teams that are so great that someone else becomes the face.
To this day, I still stop by there from time to time to see her and still maintain contact with her my first front page write up. I made sure to mention her name and give credit to her and I have a book coming out very soon that she was also a contributor to.
Without going too much into detail about the worst supervisor I’ve ever had I’ll tell you I definitely ran back to her to tell her how amazing she was and how much I didn’t realize how amazing she was until I got the total opposite and a supervisor.

Bri, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am Bri Nichols, affectionately and professionally known as Coach Bri, a serial entrepreneur, investor, professional speaker/host, resilience coach, transition expert, and business consultant. My work spans across branding, marketing, nonprofit development, community activism, politics, and healthcare information technology. I got into this multifaceted industry through a combination of lived experience and a deep passion for helping individuals and organizations navigate change and build resilience.
Growing up, I faced significant adversity, including being a homeless teen parent. However, those challenges became the foundation of my mission to turn obstacles into opportunities. My journey includes achievements such as becoming the first person to transition from the Ruth House shelter program to full-time state employment, serving on the Governor’s Transition Committee for Thriving Youth, and raising over $100,000 for young parents transitioning out of shelter. These milestones, coupled with my ACE score of 6/10, drive me to help others overcome adversity and thrive.
Through my company, Coach Bri Nichols Consulting (CBN), I provide a variety of services, including business consulting, resilience coaching, workshops, and motivational speaking. I specialize in teaching resilience through a framework I developed, “Learn SHIT” (Learn Successful Habits in Transition), which helps people reframe stress and use it as a stepping stone for growth. Additionally, I offer career readiness and team-building workshops tailored to schools and nonprofits, as well as a business startup course that simplifies entrepreneurship using sports analogies.
What sets me apart is my ability to connect with people through relatable, actionable strategies. I bring an authentic perspective shaped by my personal experiences and a strong background in leadership, which includes running for City Council, working with nonprofits, and building multiple businesses. My sports-themed approach to business and resilience makes complex concepts accessible and engaging, whether you’re a student, a young professional, or an established entrepreneur.
I’m most proud of my resilience and the impact I’ve had on others. Whether it’s helping youth build successful habits, guiding organizations to achieve their goals, or motivating a room full of people to embrace their potential, my work centers on creating lasting change.
At the heart of my brand is the belief that resilience is a skill anyone can develop, and with the right tools, we can all turn stress into success. For anyone considering working with me, know that I’m here to empower you, help you build your “team,” and support you in achieving your goals both on and off the field of life and business.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

During my time in a shelter with my young daughter, I faced some of the toughest challenges of my life. I entered the shelter system as a single teen parent when she was still an infant and stayed there until she was nearly three years old.
During that time, life was relentless. My daughter had a seizure, and two nights in a row, a fire was set in the shelter where we lived. We also endured the 2015 blizzard, which damaged the shelter and displaced us for over six months. On top of that, I was navigating legal struggles, denial from public housing, and toxic relationships—all while trying to create stability for my daughter.
Despite it all, I found a way to push forward. I became the first person to transition out of that shelter into full-time salaried state employment. Less than six months after separating, I returned to co-chair a fundraising event for the same shelter. At that event, I shared my story and helped raise over $100,000 for young parents in transition.
I’ve since returned to that same organization as a lived experience consultant, contributing to a new framework they are developing to better support those in need. I’ve also started my own nonprofit organization, which provides respite for the community and skill-building workshops for youth.
Through these experiences, I’ve learned that resilience isn’t about avoiding hardship—it’s about using challenges as stepping stones for growth. It’s the foundation of everything I teach today about transforming adversity into opportunity—or turning stress into success, as I like to say.

https://www.enterprisenews.com/story/news/local/2016/12/24/brockton-teen-learns-resilience-at/23278881007/

Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?

The highlighted question: I’ve always had a love for being in front of the camera and directing creative projects, but this particular experience took that passion to a whole new level. I was a few months into a long-term contract with a media team, managing video and photography production as well as my social media presence. I’ve always been very particular about my online image because of my unique background—I’ve worked hard to rebrand without changing who I am. This made me extra careful about the content I posted, especially regarding major milestones.
On this day, my team and I had already shot content at multiple locations when it started raining mid-shoot. We ran to the car to avoid getting soaked, but as I was sprinting down the steps, I had this vision for a skit. I stopped everyone and said, “Wait! Let’s shoot this.” My assistant played along, and we quickly captured a few takes of me running and them running up to ask, “What do you do?” It was a spur-of-the-moment idea to promote a product we were working on, and we finished just as the rain picked up again.
A few days later, I saw the edited video and loved it, so I posted it to Instagram. It didn’t perform well, but I wasn’t disappointed—it wasn’t part of our planned content strategy, just something fun and creative. A friend saw it and suggested I post it to TikTok. I’d dabbled with TikTok during the pandemic but never stayed consistent. Managing multiple platforms felt overwhelming, but with my team handling Instagram, I figured I could give it a try.
I posted the video on TikTok, then forgot about it. A day or two later, my Instagram started blowing up. At first, I thought I’d been hacked—notifications were coming in at a rate I’d never seen. Then I remembered TikTok and opened the app. The video had hundreds of thousands of views and was climbing by the second. I closed the app in disbelief, then reopened it to see the numbers jump again—200,000 views, 300,000, 500,000. Eventually, it hit over 6.6 million views.
The comments were wild. People were asking about the product, loving the car in the video, commenting on my outfit—it was a marketer’s dream. What blew me away was how this one simple, almost zero-cost piece of content brought in so much business. It exposed a major gap in our operations: we weren’t set up to handle the influx of attention and demand. But that moment forced us to scale up quickly.
Even better, the success of that video lifted everything else we had been working on. The “rising tide lifts all ships” effect was real—our other content started performing better, not just for that product but for other clients and projects too. The video’s success opened doors to new partnerships and gave me analytics I could leverage to attract even more opportunities.
This experience taught me an invaluable lesson: stay ready so you don’t have to get ready. You never know when your viral moment will come, but when it does, you have to be ready to run that play—or risk fumbling the opportunity.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://coachbrinichols.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/CoachBriNichols/#
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/coachbrinicholsofficial/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/coachbrinichols
• Twitter: https://www.linkedin.com/company/coachbrinichols
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@coachbrinichols
• Other: https://preneur.ai/coachbrinichols

Image Credits

VMG
HDiamonds
KMVisuals
Lady E Photography