Living BIG w/ Nicci Smith: Chaos, Beauty, and Belonging

**What happens when life doesn’t follow anything close to the plan?** In this episode, Becca and Meredith sit down with **Nicci Smith**, photographer, nurse, mom, and self-described recovering people pleaser, for an honest conversation about resilience, empathy, creativity, and finding where you belong. Nicci shares how the premature birth of her son changed the way she saw everyday moments and helped shape her love of photography. She also opens up about surviving a brain aneurysm, returning to school to become a nurse, working in labor and delivery, her personal experience with addiction and recovery, and how caring for people through trauma ultimately led her toward forensic nursing and behavioral health. The conversation also gets deeply personal as Nicci talks about vulnerability, painful experiences with community, and what it means to finally find people around whom you can be completely yourself. Through all of her different chapters, one theme keeps emerging: **people deserve dignity, compassion, and the chance to be fully seen.** From photography and motherhood to nursing, mental health, belonging, humor, and healing, this episode is a reminder that life rarely unfolds according to plan—and sometimes the unexpected chapters shape us the most. **Living BIG is about creativity, courage, and the communities that help us grow. Learn more at** biginc.org**.** **\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_** ## Episode Chapters **00:00** Meet Nicci Smith: The Woman with Nine Lives **01:37** How Nicci Became Part of the BIG Story **03:32** Creativity, Identity & a Recovering People Pleaser **04:50** A Premature Birth That Changed Everything **06:24** Photography as a Lifeline **07:18** Finding Beauty in the Everyday **10:08** From Creativity to a Career in Medicine **11:22** “What Makes You Think You Could Be a Nurse?” **12:34** A Brain Aneurysm & Choosing to Go Back to School **13:43** Why Women Deserve Better Care **16:10** Birth Trauma, Grief & Giving Moms Permission to Feel Both **18:32** The Humanity Behind Healthcare **20:26** Your Nurses Are on Your Team **21:10** Birth Plans & Making the Next Best Choice **26:06** The “Nicci Patients” & a Move Toward Mental Health **28:42** Behavioral Health & Becoming a Forensic Nurse Examiner **31:19** Dignity, Consent & Caring for the Whole Person **33:26** “You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know” **35:16** Empathy Behind the Camera **36:31** When Community Is Hard **38:32** What It Feels Like to Never Quite Belong **39:27** Finally Finding a Place to Be Yourself **41:47** Finding Your Weirdos—and a Little Whimsy **43:14** Finding Humor in the Dark **44:10** What Support Looks Like Now **45:09** Capturing Reality Instead of Perfection **46:00** Chaos, Beauty & Belonging