I grew up in Doveton, Melbourne, and became a mum at twenty. Like many women, I spent years single parenting, over-functioning, people pleasing, and carrying things in silence that I didn't yet have the language to understand. I was focused on getting through each day, doing my best to hold everything together, often overlooking the small moments that mattered most. Before I knew it, years had passed, and I found myself reflecting on how much time I had spent rushing through life rather than truly experiencing it.
What I came to understand is that the moments we often dismiss as ordinary frequently become the moments we remember most. A conversation. A hug. A quiet afternoon. A final goodbye we didn't know would be the last.
I don't share these experiences because I have all the answers. I share them because I know what it feels like to search for meaning when life doesn't make sense, and to wonder if anyone else feels the same way.
At heart, I'm a fun-loving Aussie girl, a mum, a wife, a founder, and a writer navigating midlife much like everyone else—learning, growing, making mistakes, and still trying to figure things out along the way.
Explore Your Brilliance grew from a need to create the thing I once needed but couldn't find. Not another diagnosis. Not another program that expected people to have everything sorted before they began. Instead, I wanted to create honest questions, practical tools, and a space that reminds people that whatever they are experiencing is temporary, even when it feels permanent.
Alongside this work, I've spent more than two decades leading people through change, uncertainty, and growth in corporate environments. I understand change management, organisational behaviour, and the challenges people face when they appear capable on the outside while quietly struggling on the inside. Yet the work that matters most to me has never come from the professional lens alone. It comes from the human experience that sits beneath it—the moments of loss, resilience, hope, and change that connect us all.
A Few Things About Me
I share life with my husband Louie who once drove me in his Holden Commodore through the story of our relationship. The first place we met, the place we went to on our first date, the first house we lived in - then he drove me to Sky High at the top of the Dandenong Mountains before getting down on one knee under a Wishing Tree.
Together, we have a blended family that includes five incredible adult children and a grandson. They are our reason for most things.
I have two miniature dachshunds named Daisy and Devon who have absolutely no idea how small they are.
I believe healing is possible. I believe patterns can change. And I believe that even the hardest seasons of life are not permanent - because nothing is.
Where Life Meets Leadership
My personal experiences shaped the philosophy behind Explore Your Brilliance. My professional journey shaped the methodology. Together, they’ve become the foundation of everything I create.
For more than 25 years, I’ve led complex operational teams through change across the private, local government and Victorian Government sectors. I’ve worked alongside leaders, teams and stakeholders navigating uncertainty, competing priorities and environments where change has been constant.
Throughout that journey, I discovered something that transformed the way I think about change. The same emotions, questions and patterns I had experienced in life were the very same ones I saw in workplaces every day. Behind every organisational restructure, new strategy or operational challenge were people trying to make sense of uncertainty while continuing to lead, contribute and support those around them.
Over time, I realised that whether we are navigating change at home, at work or somewhere in between, the questions are remarkably similar.
How do we make sense of uncertainty?
How do we support the people around us?
How do we keep moving forward when everything feels difficult?
Those questions became the foundation of The Temporary Theory™ and the SWAAT Organisational Change Methodology.
Today, Explore Your Brilliance exists to help people navigate change with greater awareness, confidence and connection. Whether that change happens in life, leadership or somewhere in between, the goal remains the same: to help people move forward without losing sight of what matters most.
If every moment is temporary, then every moment matters.
From my story to yours - may you always return to your brilliance.
When was the last time you realised a moment mattered after it was already gone?
Hi, I am Nicole, founder of Explore Your Brilliance.
For a long time, I thought if I could just do better, be better, work harder, then life would finally feel easier. Instead, I became exhausted trying to earn a version of myself that was already enough, while missing out on moments that really mattered. Before I knew it the kids were adults, my parents were ageing, and I realised how many moments I had missed while I was busy chasing the next thing. Life has taught me some difficult lessons.
Everything is temporary.
It started as a phrase I would repeat to myself during some of the hardest times in my life. The hard seasons, the beautiful moments, the grief, the joy, the certainty and uncertainty that come with being human all shaped the way I see myself, my relationships, my leadership, and my life. Somewhere along the way, I realised that everything is temporary. The hard parts. The beautiful parts. And all the moments in between.
One of the hardest truths I’ve had to face is that I spent much of my life trying to figure it out instead of truly living. I have held the hand of people I loved as they took their last breath. I have driven home from hospitals and sat in the car for a long time before going inside because I couldn't hold myself together. Experienced panic attacks in the middle of ordinary days and wondered what was wrong with me. I have said goodbye to people without realising it would be the last time. And like many others, I spent years overlooking the small moments that mattered most. This work grew from recognition of those moments.
Explore Your Brilliance grew from that journey.