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 Chapters00:00 Meet Nicci Smith: The Woman with Nine Lives01:37 How Nicci Became Part of the BIG Story03:32 Creativity, Identity & a Recovering People Pleaser04:50 A Premature Birth That Changed Everything06:24 Photography as a Lifeline07:18 Finding Beauty in the Everyday10:08 From Creativity to a Career in Medicine11:22 “What Makes You Think You Could Be a Nurse?”12:34 A Brain Aneurysm & Choosing to Go Back to School13:43 Why Women Deserve Better Care16:10 Birth Trauma, Grief & Giving Moms Permission to Feel Both18:32 The Humanity Behind Healthcare20:26 Your Nurses Are on Your Team21:10 Birth Plans & Making the Next Best Choice26:06 The “Nicci Patients” & a Move Toward Mental Health28:42 Behavioral Health & Becoming a Forensic Nurse Examiner31:19 Dignity, Consent & Caring for the Whole Person33:26 “You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know”35:16 Empathy Behind the Camera36:31 When Community Is Hard38:32 What It Feels Like to Never Quite Belong39:27 Finally Finding a Place to Be Yourself41:47 Finding Your Weirdos—and a Little Whimsy43:14 Finding Humor in the Dark44:10 What Support Looks Like Now45:09 Capturing Reality Instead of Perfection46:00 Chaos, Beauty & Belonging