Nicole Arbour is an award-winning super-viral comedian and motivator with over 1 billion video views online. This year Yahoo Finance has named her the “Top Influencer to Follow in 2020,” and she also received an honorary Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for “Special Achievement in Social Media.” Nicole has been the host of a number of major events and tours including Style New York Fashion Week at Madison Square Garden, Virgin Mobile “National Fearless Day” with Richard Branson, City Fest Toronto. Among her clients who she helps with marketing campaigns, there are such giants as Virgin Mobile, Axe, Molson, and many others.
But if you walked on set last week during Nicole Arbour’s photoshoot, you would have probably mistaken her for Sleeping Beauty. Her long blonde locks, bright blue eyes, big smile, and extravagantly beautiful dress, made her the perfect depiction of a Walt Disney princess. The only thing missing was a prince to come whisk her off her feet. At the same time, however, Arbour is no damsel in distress.
Just five short years to the date of the shoot, Nicole was literally a sleeping beauty and could not get out of bed. After a tragic accident in which she got rear-ended and was subsequently struck by a vehicle while exiting a cab, she went from being an actress, dancer, and comedian to being bedridden.
The physical and emotional pain that followed the trauma was unbearable, to the point that Nicole became depressed and suicidal. Luckily her joie-de-vivre persisted, and she is grateful for the silver linings that came from the accident: “I wouldn’t wish it upon my worst enemy, but 100% it’s a blessing. My work ethic, the way I feel pain, the way I have empathy for other people in different ways…when I was physically disabled, and emotionally, physically, and spiritually in pain, I saw that most of the world is full of it. We’re lying to ourselves constantly. And that’s why we’re unhappy. We’re depressed because we’re not doing what we want to do for a living.”
In March of 2015, Nicole received an official document from the Canadian government stating that she was approved for disability for life. Since that day, a fire was lit in her: “I knew that it was a crutch. I knew that if I had that, I would never push myself off the cliff to see if I could fly. I would just sit in it. So if I cut myself off, then I have no choice but to go all in. And so I was like, well, they said I’m disabled for life, I’m saying stop giving me the disability.”
The emotional, physical, and spiritual journey to get to the Disney-like woman she is today took a lot of work and came with many life changes, “I put positive messages everywhere. All over my mirrors, every room, my closet, inside the drawers. I stopped watching anything negative or super violent, including the news. Just a steady stream of motivation and inspiration all day, every day. I started meditating like crazy, switched to a super alkaline diet, and tons of blueberries. I just gave myself no choice.”
These changes clearly worked for Arbour, who promotes what power these positive changes can have, “I just know, everything I put into this world, I get it right back bigger. So be careful what you put out. The intent matters. You can be controversial but have good intentions. And controversy doesn’t mean bad. It just means having a discussion.”
One of Arbour’s most recent projects is called the #GoTeam Academy. It was a project that left Arbour in awe of its results. The first academy was in partnership with Danelle Delgado, one of Arbour’s best friends, known as an elite business mentor and transformational speaker. The academy is a product of Arbour and Delgado’s minds put together: “We put all of our life lessons, business lessons, and social media lessons together. Things I learned from being disabled, things I learned from people lying about me in the press. We put it all together into a ten-week course, and we had hundreds of people each week. We gave them homework to do, and we brought in celebrity guests. These people’s lives were so changed; they are not the same people.” Arbour has an upcoming book (that’s supposed to be released in 2021), and credits the results of these transformations to the information in her book, “The testimonials are crazy, they blew my mind. You have a built-in community of people holding you accountable. A lot of stuff that’s in my book, we tried it on everybody. And not only did it work, it exceeded everyone’s expectations.”
Ironically, Arbour’s disability freed her to uncover her biggest passion in life: telling the truth, “If we told the truth more, we would all have better lives. I just want to empower people enough to be confident enough to be themselves. Whatever themselves is, because that’s how we’ll be healthier, we’ll be happier, we’ll just have better lives overall”. Another exciting project that Arbour has been working on is her “The Truth Series”. Arbour will be going over the truth about a wide range of topics, and will not be holding back.
Over the last five years, Arbour has been consulting corporate giants like Facebook and Youtube in the social media realm and has often been the only woman in the room, “Sometimes, I’m the only woman on the calls. It doesn’t even occur to me anymore. We were taught to be so polite, specifically as girls. We are kind of taught to play down our strengths, let the boys win at sports. Don’t be so big, don’t be so loud, stop being so shiny, don’t be so much. I think it’s good to own our talents, and I don’t feel the need to man-up and act like a guy in the business world. I’m going to tell them what’s up, I’m not going to mince my words, and they really seem to respect it and like it. And I do good work, and so I keep getting hired. It’s cool.”
Right now, Arbour has decided to move away from consulting clients and focus more on her brand, “My brand is the one that I think is going to help most people in my lifetime. So I tailored it back, working on my book, and a bunch of other things.” During our interview, Arbour admitted that even though she was taking on fewer clients, she added someone massive to the roster this week. At the time of the interview, she could not disclose who it was, but she did casually receive text messages from both The White House Deputy Press Secretary and the President of Entrepreneur Magazine during the interview, so we can only assume it’s massive. Arbour is not shy when it comes to any topic, including politics, “The fighting that’s going on in America right now is just so stupid. When I make videos, I try to shine light on how stupid everybody looks because everyone is equally stupid in this fight right now. And everyone is not honest with each other.” This is another reason why Arbour feels passionate and almost obsessed with telling the truth. Her mentality when it comes to most topics is binary, including when it comes to business and in her personal life, “My tip is to decide. Everything in life is yes or no. When I’m talking to brands, I say “It’s either a F yes, or an F no”. If you’re not going to go all in, then don’t do it, because you’re not going to have your emotions behind. The same goes for working out and the gym. Do you like the way you look? Do you like the way you feel? Do you like the way you are with your family? Your energy levels? No? Then let’s go. If it’s a maybe, then get out of my way, you’re not ready to make a change yet. It’s true with anything.”
Arbour’s determination and inner motivation to spread what she’s experienced through adversity is naturally contagious. Through her upcoming book, the academy, and her truth series, we find out what it takes, especially as a woman, to cheer yourself on and give yourself enough courage. It is clear that Arbour has an even brighter future ahead, “I don’t know what my legacy is going to be, but I know what I would like it to be, and it would be that I cheer so hard, that the world eventually cheers too. Oh, and tell the truth.”
Photography by Mark Short
Makeup & hair by Sarah Zap
Location: Preto Loft
