2023 "FOCUS ON YOUTH":
FEATURED EMERGING ENTREPRENEUR
Entrepreneur & Mental Health Advocate:
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Proud Sponsors of Focus on Youth 2023
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Nikki Gal is a former fashion model, entrepreneur, mental health advocate, speaker and designer. In early 2014, Nikki started her professional career as a fashion model at just 15 years old. Since 2018, she has found success as an entrepreneur of five companies.
In addition to her entrepreneurial pursuits, including her intimates brand, Gal, she is passionate about mental health. As a mental health advocate, she launched her nonprofit organization Raw Talk with Nikki Gal in a mission to support women’s mental health and wellness. Raw Talk with Nikki Gal reached over five listening platforms worldwide, publishing over 160 interviews which reached listeners from over 40 countries.
In 2022, Nikki launched an art series shedding a light on mental health awareness. The series was published internationally and has been showcased in Barcelona and other parts of Europe.
Her mission and future goal is to continue to encourage creative liberation as well as the power of never limiting yourself.
In addition to her entrepreneurial pursuits, including her intimates brand, Gal, she is passionate about mental health. As a mental health advocate, she launched her nonprofit organization Raw Talk with Nikki Gal in a mission to support women’s mental health and wellness. Raw Talk with Nikki Gal reached over five listening platforms worldwide, publishing over 160 interviews which reached listeners from over 40 countries.
In 2022, Nikki launched an art series shedding a light on mental health awareness. The series was published internationally and has been showcased in Barcelona and other parts of Europe.
Her mission and future goal is to continue to encourage creative liberation as well as the power of never limiting yourself.
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"Through conversation, I have come to understand that relating to one another is the most powerful tool women have." ~ Nikki Gal |
Contributor Jillian Crocetta spoke with Nikki about her mental health advocacy podcast, some of the challenges she has faced as an entrepreneur, and her passion for the arts.
Your nonprofit and mental health advocacy podcast, Raw Talk with Nikki Gal, has made quite a name for itself. What inspired you to start Raw Talk?
Raw Talk with Nikki Gal was something I wanted to do for a long time. I wanted to break this societal stigma that talking about mental health is taboo, so I created a platform for women to be candid in sharing their stories. I did not want any rehearsed content; I wanted it to be real. And I wanted to give women the opportunity to get vulnerable and dig deep within themselves.
Raw Talk with Nikki Gal has become a diary for women, and I have met so many beautiful, talented women through this podcast who have been so open with themselves and with me. I will be relaunching Raw Talk with Nikki Gal in August 2023.
Your nonprofit and mental health advocacy podcast, Raw Talk with Nikki Gal, has made quite a name for itself. What inspired you to start Raw Talk?
Raw Talk with Nikki Gal was something I wanted to do for a long time. I wanted to break this societal stigma that talking about mental health is taboo, so I created a platform for women to be candid in sharing their stories. I did not want any rehearsed content; I wanted it to be real. And I wanted to give women the opportunity to get vulnerable and dig deep within themselves.
Raw Talk with Nikki Gal has become a diary for women, and I have met so many beautiful, talented women through this podcast who have been so open with themselves and with me. I will be relaunching Raw Talk with Nikki Gal in August 2023.
Shedding Light on Mental Health Awareness
© Nikki Gal |
What are some of the biggest takeaways you hope your Raw Talk listeners leave with?
I hope Raw Talk listeners feel inspired and motivated. Mental health can make us feel as though we are in a cage, but I want Raw Talk to liberate my listeners. I want my listeners to feel authentically themselves, because we are our most beautiful when we feel like ourselves. And as a podcast host, I inspire this by being authentic and having an authentic reach. Out of everything I’ve done in my career, I have the most adoration for Raw Talk, and inspiring others motivates me to continue the podcast and my advocacy work. You’ve spoken to so many women who’ve shared their vulnerability and have treated Raw Talk as a diary. Have you learned anything from these women that you are willing to share?
Raw Talk puts out the message that women do like each other, love each other even, and support each other. My guests have also taught me that it is okay to be vulnerable and to shed tears, to be happy with who I am and to embrace both the good and the bad in life. Through conversation, I have come to understand that relating to one another is the most powerful tool women have. |
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Did you always see yourself pursuing entrepreneurship?
I started out as a fashion model when I was 15, and I was in the fashion industry for about five years. While I loved it, I didn’t find it particularly liberating. So, I took some mental inventory to really examine what I loved and what empowered me. From there, entrepreneurship found me, and everything just fell into place. While I didn’t think I would be able to do this, I think I have been successful on this path because I knew [and still know] myself, and knowing yourself does very well, not just in entrepreneurship, but in life. Did you ever see yourself pursuing art as a career? I wanted to pursue art as a career, but once I began modeling, modeling really took control. Modeling is more than an industry, it is a lifestyle: You find yourself traveling here and there, and meeting this person and that person, and you really aren’t able to focus on yourself. In my case, I lost my focus on art. But when I quit modeling, I realized I wanted to pursue my passion, and that is what I did. I listened to my inner child, the one who dreamed of being an artist. |
Nikki Gal at Work
Photo Courtesy: Nikki Gal |
What were some of the challenges of starting your own business?
The biggest challenge of starting my own business was understanding that I have the control and the power. My imposter syndrome ate me alive, which affected the way I thought of my artwork, and I also struggled to juggle everything at once. I was very critical of myself, and this led to many stressful days. I did not know if I was worthy enough or brave enough to take on this industry, especially starting at 20 years old. So, over the years, I retrained my brain to trust the process. The imposter syndrome may creep back in occasionally, but at the end of the day, if the work I produced was making me happy, I found that I needed to trust my gut, and be my own biggest supporter.
Do you have any advice you would like to offer to other young women who are interested in starting their own business?
Trust your gut and follow your heart. I know this sounds cliché, but it is true, because you are the driver in your life, not the passenger. Entrepreneurship can sometimes make you feel like the passenger, because it includes the involvement of so many other people, but at the end of the day, you need to remember that you are the owner of your company, and you ultimately make the decisions.
Also, another piece of advice I would give is that earning money will take time. People sometimes enter the industry expecting to make a profit immediately. It is not really like that though; entrepreneurship is a process of trial and error. So, you need to embrace this process. Do not give up on yourself. There will be days where you grow frustrated, and there will be long nights of contemplation, but give yourself patience, and give yourself room to make mistakes. No one is perfect, and you must embrace that.
Did you receive support when you were launching your first company at 20 years old?
The biggest challenge of starting my own business was understanding that I have the control and the power. My imposter syndrome ate me alive, which affected the way I thought of my artwork, and I also struggled to juggle everything at once. I was very critical of myself, and this led to many stressful days. I did not know if I was worthy enough or brave enough to take on this industry, especially starting at 20 years old. So, over the years, I retrained my brain to trust the process. The imposter syndrome may creep back in occasionally, but at the end of the day, if the work I produced was making me happy, I found that I needed to trust my gut, and be my own biggest supporter.
Do you have any advice you would like to offer to other young women who are interested in starting their own business?
Trust your gut and follow your heart. I know this sounds cliché, but it is true, because you are the driver in your life, not the passenger. Entrepreneurship can sometimes make you feel like the passenger, because it includes the involvement of so many other people, but at the end of the day, you need to remember that you are the owner of your company, and you ultimately make the decisions.
Also, another piece of advice I would give is that earning money will take time. People sometimes enter the industry expecting to make a profit immediately. It is not really like that though; entrepreneurship is a process of trial and error. So, you need to embrace this process. Do not give up on yourself. There will be days where you grow frustrated, and there will be long nights of contemplation, but give yourself patience, and give yourself room to make mistakes. No one is perfect, and you must embrace that.
Did you receive support when you were launching your first company at 20 years old?
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© Nikki Gal
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Absolutely. I wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for my friends and family. My mom and dad frame everything I’ve done, and my friends are always in my corner. Additionally, I receive a lot of support from my clients, because a lot of my clients are my best friends today. Having clientele is about genuine connection and networking, which is how I run my companies. I am not just a business owner. I am someone who is here to support you and make your visions happen.
I know that you recently started your own intimates brand, Gal Intimates. How has your work as a model and as a graphic designer influenced your designs? Back when I was a fashion model, I thought about designing clothes, rather than being a mannequin for clothes. It seemed far away, but fast forward to ten years later, and I’m doing it. My background in art has helped me craft my visions, and my modeling work and graphic design work has prepared me to create the digital blueprints of my designs. That being said, I didn’t go to school for fashion design, so in a way, I am also learning as I go along. In my opinion, learning hands-on is the best way to go into business. I also learn from a lot of designers. I connect with many talented, hardworking designers and bounce my ideas off them. Recently, I’ve been inspired by Vogue issues from the 1990s. |
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How has your passion for art intersected with your advocacy work?
A lot of my art pieces deal with mental health. Back in July 2022, I launched a series of five digital pieces, with each piece showcasing a woman with a different mental health disorder. For this series, I used my art to create a visualization of mental health. Each of these women are also crying, and I chose to do this because I want my art to embrace not only the topic of mental health, but also a woman’s ability to show emotion. My art has also had a huge effect on my own mental health. Ever since this collection launched, I have felt so liberated. By putting these pieces out there, I feel as though I am putting the message out there that it is okay to talk about mental health. Who are some of your female mentors? A lot of my girlfriends are my mentors. I am part of a huge community of women that I met through networking in the mental health industry, in the fashion industry, and in the graphic design industry. And my mother has been a vital support system; she is absolutely incredible. Lastly, I believe that we are our own biggest support systems. Tune in to yourself. |
Artwork by Nikki Gal
Mental Health Series, 2022 © Nikki Gal |
Do you have any advice for young women looking to be more creative?
Go to your local craft store, pick out twenty dollars’ worth of random materials, and have fun. We often get so hung up on feeling like our art isn’t good enough and have the urge to throw it out. But don’t do that; keep that art. My eighth-grade art teacher used to literally take the erasers off of our pencils, which forced us to keep our work and instilled in us that nothing we created was worth erasing. With that being said, just have fun. Draw, paint, make slime, create a photocollage on your phone. Art can be anything. And art and creativity are so important.
Where do you find sanctuary?
I find sanctuary through my creative liberation. The creative mindset is a sanctuary within a sanctuary. It can be anything you dream, and you can become it. It makes me feel uncaged. I am so grateful for embracing my creative mindset, because I wouldn’t be the woman I am today without doing these things. Also, spending time around animals is a sanctuary for me. Animals are so therapeutic and so healing on so many levels.
Go to your local craft store, pick out twenty dollars’ worth of random materials, and have fun. We often get so hung up on feeling like our art isn’t good enough and have the urge to throw it out. But don’t do that; keep that art. My eighth-grade art teacher used to literally take the erasers off of our pencils, which forced us to keep our work and instilled in us that nothing we created was worth erasing. With that being said, just have fun. Draw, paint, make slime, create a photocollage on your phone. Art can be anything. And art and creativity are so important.
Where do you find sanctuary?
I find sanctuary through my creative liberation. The creative mindset is a sanctuary within a sanctuary. It can be anything you dream, and you can become it. It makes me feel uncaged. I am so grateful for embracing my creative mindset, because I wouldn’t be the woman I am today without doing these things. Also, spending time around animals is a sanctuary for me. Animals are so therapeutic and so healing on so many levels.
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