Nicole was among the first graduates of Village’s Entrepreneurship Diploma Program, which sees participants graduate with a valuable skill set of business, marketing, finance and leadership fundamentals and prepared to create and perform in the jobs of tomorrow. Built into the curriculum are business pitch competitions and a capstone project where students develop a business plan and work through the challenges of making that business a reality.
Nicole’s company, Bread and Salt grew to be a fully-functioning business by the time she graduated high school, and she aspires to continue increasing distribution of her homemade breads as she pursues higher education. With her impressive initiative and entrepreneurial spirit, Nicole was accepted into The University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business, ranked #5 in the nation by the U.S. News & World Report.
Having been a Village Viking since pre-school, she recognizes the freedom she experienced throughout her years, “Village allowed me to flourish, and to be good at what I wanted to be good at. For anyone starting here, I would tell them to participate in a lot of things, even if you think it may be a minor activity.”