With a BA in Mass Communication and an MA in Education, Wilson-Ripsom has spent decades working for the public benefit, promoting voter registration; training elementary school teachers to work with bilingual classroom materials; swim lessons for children of color; women's education; public schools; community arts and more.
Following the research and anecdotal reports from around the world, in February 2020 Nikole began advocating at the music-education organization where she was then employed, that they transition all non-classroom roles to remote. In March 2020, her high-risk husband contracted COVID-19 at a routine doctor's appointment and after weeks of severe illness, became a COVID long-hauler.
With their lives permanently altered by the disabling after-effects the disease left him with, Nikole volunteered with the state of California and spent the next 18 months on the phone as a COVID Contact Tracer. She has remained steadfastly committed to advocating for all forms of mitigation everywhere she goes, including at her current role as an Event Coordinator at Northeastern University's Oakland campus, where she is known campus-wide for her extensive collection of mask covers and her preference for sitting by open windows.
