By Nicole Phillip
December 4, 2017
If you see her walking down the streets, you would consider her a fashionista because she is always using wine matte lipstick, a bold outfit and waving her naturally black kinky curls. Nicole Phillip, 25, was born and raised in Florida. She moved to New York six years ago to attend NYU, where she studied journalism and politics, with a minor in Judaic Studies. As a first generation student, going to college had always been Nicole’s goal. Her sister, who is 12 years older than her and pursued graduate studies, acted as a role model for her. Although she was admitted to NYU, Nicole spent her freshman year at the University of Central Florida to reduce financial costs to her family. However, her ambitious professional goals to work for a national news company pushed her to continue her education in New York.
I’ve been interested in journalism since 8th grade, when I was a yearbook nerd to then become an editor-in-chief in high school. I wasn’t the NYU college kid that was partying, but I wasn’t the NYU college kid that was at Bobst getting A pluses. I was doing what I needed to do to pass my classes with a decent grade, but I understood that at the end of the day my grades wouldn’t matter as much as my networking and skills. And it was true, I haven’t been asked for my GPA once.
I didn’t focus as hard on politics as I did on journalism. I’m happy that I chose politics because it helped to get my first job out of college. But at this point I’m more interested in lifestyle and entertainment than politics. I minored in Judaic Studies! (Laughs) My mother is a Christian minister from Trinidad. When I started my studies, I almost knew everything about Judaism because, as she always said, to be a good Christian it is necessary to know about the Judaic faith. I pray everyday and believe in God, but now I consider myself more spiritual than religious.
I’m an associate producer of Live video at ABC News, working on breaking news live streams primarily. I wake up every day at 5 and go to Dunkin Donuts. I should just buy stock. I grab a donut or maybe bacon, egg and cheese on a plain bagel. I jump on the train, get to work by seven. I assign whatever stream I have to produce for the day, and start deciding which reporters and correspondents I will use for that stream. It’s always really fun to be in the control room but I love it when they send me to the field to shoot. Two or three times a month I run a pop culture talk show called Real Live. It’s not quite like TMZ style or gossipy in any way. It’s about the deeper implications of some of the issues we are facing in society.
At the ABC News headquarters, Nicole has recently moved to a working area closer to the set where the talk show is shoot. Her mousepad and drawers have stickers with her name because she fears her supplies can get mixed with someone else’s as all workers have the same ones. She recently started using a notepad she got at BET Networks when she interned there in 2014. Her Capricorn mug sits next to her computer, always filled with coffee or tea. On top of a metal desk organizer, she has a collection of souvenirs carefully placed: a Ronald Reagan duck she playfully took from a friend’s desk years ago but never gave back, a succulent plant she got in a stress-relief session, a snow globe from the Cayman Islands and a small bottle of Salsa Picante from Playa del Carmen, two places she has never been to but hopes to visit soon.
What do you do in your free time?
I like to sleep when I can. I don’t have a million friends that I have to be keeping up with so I don’t go outside as much unless something is actually happening. If you go out with no plans you end up spending unnecessary money. All those happy hour drinks, they add up. I rather save the majority of my money to travel. Next week, I will be travelling to Prague. I’m really excited to spend my holidays in Europe because I haven’t been there since I studied for a semester at NYU Florence.
Sometimes after work, I walk around my neighborhood and stop by Rainbow. The department store has great deals, you can get nice shirts and pants for 5 or 7 dollars. Buying clothes there is my guilty pleasure. When I’m at home, I like video blogging. I have a Youtube channel called “Nicole’s New York.” It’s about what it’s like to be broke and single and in New York. Nothing too serious. I keep it very clean and kid-friendly to be a role model, nothing that I wouldn’t want my mother to see. I don’t have thousands of followers but not everything has to be about being the next sensation, it’s just about having fun. I hope to bring some of the creative things that I do in my videos to my job. That would be the ultimate goal.
Has your identity as a Black woman affected your career?
Women have to try twice as hard, Black women have to try three times as hard, trans-women have to try four times as hard. Every time you add a minority layer or disenfranchised group to your identity, it becomes harder. It doesn’t matter how much money you have or how educated you are, people will see black first. I will never know what is it like to just be a journalist, a person. “Don’t be too loud, you’re Black.” “You’re a Black woman, so you can’t wear your hair like that.” I have to always remember these things.
In August I went to the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) conference for the first time. It was a great opportunity to meet people and start networking. Every month we go to large companies, it’s easier to get into them as a group than as an individual. Minority organizations empower people to help each other, to think ‘these are my peers,’ because who better understands your issues than others like you.
Looking into the future, Nicole aims to be the Issa Rae of digital journalism. She wants to have her own enterprise focused on confronting deep issues in society related to females and minorities in a way that is easily digestible and understood by the audience.