Nicole joined the Northeast and Islands Regional Education Laboratory (REL-NEI) in October 2006. Prior to joining REL-NEI, Nicole worked in project management at two nonprofit organizations that support instructional improvement in urban schools. Most recently, Nicole worked at Teach For America where she organized training opportunities for 1,000 first and second year teachers and managed professional learning communities for 500 first year teachers. She also worked at the Boston Plan for Excellence, where her work focused on the Boston Public Schools' literacy reform implementation efforts as well as piloting a new model of professional development.

Nicole spent two years teaching fourth grade in East Harlem through the NYC Teaching Fellows program. She has also worked as a research assistant at Harvard University's Project Zero and as a consultant for a therapeutic day school to help improve teacher retention and for a start-up nonprofit to develop a growth strategy.

Nicole holds a B.S. in Cognitive Science from Brown University, a M.Ed. in School Leadership from Harvard University, and a M.Ed. in Elementary Teaching from Hunter College.