Nikhaule is a Southside, Chicago native. She graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago with a Bachelor’s in Public Health, and a focus on the health of African American women. She has worked with hospitals, non-profits across the city, and has led fundraisers for residents on the South and West Side of Chicago during the pandemic and moment of social injustices. Nikhaule is currently an HIV Coordinator at a clinic in Humboldt Park where she oversees an HIV and Case Management program that serves almost 400, HIV+ patients across Chicago and the Chicagoland area. In her personal time, Nikhaule is a huge bookworm, and even has a “book-stagram” dedicated to the literature created by black women and black non-binary authors.
What are your goals for the short-term and long-term?
Currently, my main focus is to continue to build my online book platform. I would continue to highlight black authors, with a specific focus on black authors in science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Maybe one day I’ll venture further into Creative Writing.
Who or what inspires you?
Octavia Butler is one of my long term role models. It is my goal to grow Nikhaule Be Reading on national and international levels to continually spotlight black stories.
If you could change anything about your industry, what would it be?
There are so many black books, black authors, and black stories that are frequently overlooked and I would love to change that.
What do you plan to do once you cross the millionaire mark?
While my love for literature is sometimes overwhelming, I am constantly looking for ways to integrate my Public Health expertise into my creative work. This would be a focus of mine once I became a millionaire and had abundant financial resources to build programs that would allow this.
.png)
