Nikki is saved in my phone as "Nikki Fierce" because when I met her she was Nikki Pierce and my phone auto-corrected and it was right. I was in a wedding party with her that for some personal reasons was really hard for me and she was my rock, my joy and a true and wonderful friend. I'll forever be grateful to her for that weekend and for being so kind and welcoming to me always, no matter how anti-social and mole-like I can sometimes be. She's funny and gorgeous and real and enjoy.
ANDEL SUDIK: How would you like to be described?
NIKKI TAGUILAS: Kind.
AS: Where are you from?
NT: East Texas
AS: Where do you live?
NT: Los Angeles
AS: What do you consider home?
NT: Kansas City or Chicago
AS: Life story in half a page, GO!
NT: Oh, damn. Well, I was born in east Texas, but have lived all over, mainly in Texas, California, Kansas City and Chicago. I’ve worked as a professional cheerleader, in a nursing home, at a hundred restaurants, have dated some lovely and horrible men, and have a beautiful and kind daughter. I feel lucky to have had such a tattered upbringing, because it’s made me a strong woman, and I’m able to appreciate the simplicity and happiness now, when I feel it.
AS: What do you consider your greatest accomplishment?
NT: I always joke that it’s I can fold a fitted sheet, but I think it’s my ability to read people and situations. I was very quiet growing up, so I did a lot of observing.
Why? I think it’s important because most people don’t say what’s really going on.
AS: What is your biggest failure?
NT: Oh man. I feel like I have so many, but I think I regularly fail at being kind to myself.
AS: And what (if anything) did you learn from it?
NT: I still haven’t learned how to stop!
AS: Describe your perfect day:
NT: I can sleep in, make myself coffee. Literally do nothing for a few hours. Maybe go to the gym. Watch some romcoms, hang with my boyfriend for Korean bbq, go see a movie, have a beer in a booth of a bar. It would probably be fall. I love the fall.
AS: How did you get where you are?
NT: I went where the river was flowing and didn’t throw rocks in it.
AS: What are you most proud of?
NT: How kind and generous my daughter is. Her as a whole, I’m very proud of.
AS: What is one of your fears?
NT: I’m legit afraid of getting attacked by a squirrel or having insects crawl in my vagina.
AS: What keeps you going every day?
NT: Gosh. Honestly getting out of bed every morning is probably the hardest thing I do each day. I guess I don’t know what keeps me going as much as it is I feel I have to. Probably also my meds.
AS: Last piece of art that spoke to you?
NT: Antonio Mancini’s “Resting.”
AS: Pump up song?
NT: Last stop, this town by the eels
AS: What advice would you give to someone who is lost?
NT: It’s ok to ask for directions.
AS: Do you have a mantra or words to live by?
NT: Once a cheerleading leader at camp told me, “When life has knocked you flat on your back, it’s put you in the best position to look up.” It’s hard to live by, but I try.
AS: What gives you meaning?
NT: Doing my best to lead a life where I can let each person in it know I am grateful for them. And strangers. Be kind to strangers.
AS: What do you struggle with?
NT: I struggle with my mental health every day. Each day is a roller coaster I’m trying to control from inside the car, and it’s hard. It’s so hard.
AS: What is success to you?
NT: Success is being content with where you are.
AS: What are you working on that you’re geeked out about?
NT: Admitted - a short film about a woman who admits herself into a mental health facility. I’m also pitching to Nickelodeon right now and trying my best to remember that’s a huge accomplishment.
AS: Anything else? What question would you add to this?
NT: How are you? Really, right now. How are you?
From Phylicia Mcleod: What are some self care activities that you do?
NT: Resting
From Rachel Mason: What teacher changed your life...
NT: Ms Stewart, my world history teacher. She taught us to put the work in, and if you did, it would pay off. We used to take so many notes and have so much homework, but I failed every (open note) test she had. I still got an A in her class.
From Heather Kinney Kurdziel: What job career would you have if you could do anything?
NT: I would sell a tv show, and let someone else show run it while I wrote on it.
From Jody Steehler: Ask your best friend: What is their favorite memory of you? What is something you've done that shook them to their core?
NT: “Shook me to my core would have been the first time you had to be admitted when we lived together. I have so many memories of you I can’t think of just one as my favorite. I see snippets of us laughing and dancing from HS all the up to just last year.”
From Maria Konopken: What would be your last meal if you knew this was your last day on earth?
NT: Tamales and pozole.
From Alexandra Bajan: Which is a weird habit that you have?
NT: I scratch my head before I fall asleep, and I smell my arms or hands for comfort. I think it probably all stemmed from when I was a kid, but if you catch me smelling my hands or wrists, it’s probably because I’m stressed.