2021 40 Under Forty Awards
Nicole White | 35 | Director of Program Services, A Wish Come True
Where do you see yourself in five years? I’d like to be seen as someone with deep expertise in the nonprofit and pediatric chronic illness sector. … I see myself creating more partnerships and building a better (and easier) way of life for families who have children living with life-threatening illnesses.
What was your first job? Working at the Salvation Army Day Care in Pawtucket as a teacher’s assistant.
What moment changed your life more than any other? When I had my son, Kyrie. It was the biggest blessing yet scariest moment. Kyrie being born with a rare birth defect that then led him to having a lifelong chronic illness brought me from being a first-time mother to a lifelong advocate, caregiver and nurse in the blink of an eye.
What is your greatest attribute that you bring to your job? I am a fighter. My experience throughout the past nine years as being a mother to a child with special needs has led me to advocate, become a certified community health worker and start my own nonprofit organization to better serve families living with short bowel syndrome. Everything I have done has put me in a great position to assist in expanding A Wish Come True and better serving the families here.
THE PROP: Nicole White’s son, Kyrie, holds a laptop, symbolizing White’s professional side, while White holds a syringe used in the treatment of Kyrie’s lifelong chronic illness caused by a rare birth defect.
