We were lucky to catch up with Nicole Johnny recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Nicole, thanks for joining us today. Innovation comes in all shapes, sizes and across all industries, so we’d love to hear about something you’ve done that you feel was particularly innovative.
Maybe not innovative in the belief but rather in practice, but something that has always grounded me in my decisions on whether to proceed has been asking myself “Would I regret not trying?” If I had the feeling that I would regret something, then it meant that I should either strongly consider doing it or take action and do it. One of those instances was Native pageantry, I didn’t grow up competing in pageantry to be a cultural ambassador. Rather, I was always a spectator but one year, I decided to try pageantry and did I win? Not exactly, but I took the lessons I learned from the first attempt and tried again and this time won. But how does that tie into my career? Well, I will say that since holding a title, being able to answer impromptu questions on a moment’s notice and public speaking are not an issue at all since I had a year to practice and refine those skills. There’s also the leadership skills too – where I’ve stepped in to fundraise and assist in the overall creation and structure of a pageant program and supported teams that would oversee the pageant and title. All of these skills, although may seem smalll, brought together the experience that I gathered from my professional career of fundraising and investor relations to bring an opportunity for young Native women to also learn these skills and of course, is how I’ve found a unique and innovative way to bridge Native pageantry skills to my career.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
A few weeks ago, a college student asked me about my career in finance. I told her the honest answer – it’s been an unconventional path with detours to satiate my own curiosity. Truly, as a young adult I had no idea what finance was and what to do with a degree in finance. However, I did know that I could use this degree to better Tribal communities around me. It would be a matter of trial and error to find a path that would match passion with skillset.
For the past ten years, I’ve worked in the finance industry starting with working for my tribe, the Navajo Nation in the investments section, helping manage the tribal portfolio. From there I grew curious about the phrase “tribal economic development” and went back to the basics of my undergraduate economic classes to begin taking apart what this means for Tribal Nations. Ultimately, I gained deep knowledge about Federal trust land and land appraisals – both important pieces when considering growing an economy and the status of Tribal Nation land. From there, I decided to try my hand with investment banking and off I went, not entirely sure what to expect. This whole experience taught me some important lessons on failure, because how many times you fall doesn’t matter but really how many times you get back up to try again. I’ll be honest – I felt incredibly out of place in this investment banking space, my own values were a little different than the cohort I was with. Rather than being motivated purely by title & salary, I saw value in living life that was more balanced with work and life. At this point, I remember telling myself before submitting my letter of resignation that there had to be something out there that would allow me to be closer to home but also utilize my skillset. This was a chance I took on myself that there would be a right fit of passion for helping Native community and the financial skillset I had been nurturing.
Afterwards, I eventually made my way into valuation work and picked up more valuable skills in understanding what drives value in a business. It was this crossroad where I found myself looking at a new path in venture capital, so I said “Why not? I think I have the skills and drive to learn something new”. It was here that I leaned into my determination that I found a place in the finance industry where I could use the skills and align it with the passion I’ve always had for wanting to create positive changes for native community.
So currently, I’m a member of the Raven Indigenous Capital Partners team, where we invest in Native companies in Canada and the US. Venture capital is a new type of capital for Native entrepreneurs and it’s exciting to be part of a team that is passionate about supporting Native entpreneurs and using creative financing tools to build businesses that create the change we want to see in our communities.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
Earlier I shared that my career in finance had been a very unconventional path. The various pivots I made in my career, especially the one from investment banking, were hard to make but I knew that I wanted to find a place that would match skills and passion. Looking back, it’s easy to say it was a simple pivot, but in those moments it was incredibly hard. All of the questions of doubt and uncertainty definitely swirled in my head. So when I did exit investment banking, the pandemic had just set in and there I was in a completely new city that I just moved to, without a lead in a job, very little friends and connections, and those months tested my determination. Eventually, after getting what felt like a million no’s on employment letters, I took up consulting to help sustain me for the short term and eventually I found a new path that allowed me to build upon skills. From this belief in myself and skillset, I was able to find a new path and build friendships with people who are now my closest friends. But after this pivot, I can say taught me so much about myself and the strength it takes to keep trying even when the no’s feel so heavy. For every no, you get closer to the yes that is meant for you.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
“There is no room for failure” I remember telling myself that a few times during school and in a few places in my career. But really, this line of thought prevented me from failing and even made me scared to fail. So the first time, I failed in my career – and it was failing a licensing test, I felt incredibly defeated at that moment. There were even moments of doubt where I questioned if I even was smart enough to be in this particular job and even in this space. But before I really let my thoughts run wild, I said to myself “Is there something to learn from this?” and at that moment, I started realizing how much failure can teach you. Often we don’t think of failure as a teacher, instead it’s something to be avoided and quite honestly, failure has been my best teacher. It’s highlighted not only areas of my own gap in knowledge or skillset, but even how to navigate and process emotions of failure. Do you let it corrode you on the inside or do you acknowledge it and then give yourself grace and move forward with the lessons learned? This is where I had seen the largest personal growth in letting myself be a student of failure and being able to take those lessons and build upon it.
Image Credits
Matt Foster