Nicole on the Move
A personal platform exploring resilience, spinal cord injury, accessibility, AI, analytics, retail, and the technologies shaping what comes next.
Different Path. Same Goals.
My Story
I’m a determined, purpose-driven person who believes that the only limitations we have are the ones we place on ourselves. Whether in academics, the workplace, or a personal project, I take pride in finishing what I start and putting genuine effort behind the work I do.
Life as a quadriplegic has changed my path, but it has not changed my ambition. I am focused on living as fully and independently as possible while staying close to emerging technologies that can improve accessibility, independence, and quality of life for people with disabilities.
Professionally, I am passionate about marketing, analytics, artificial intelligence, grocery retail, and the intersection between people and technology. I want my experiences to empower others to keep pursuing what matters to them—even when their path looks different than they originally imagined.
The only limitations you have are the ones you place on yourself.
My Spinal Cord Injury Journey
A different life in an instant
In late March 2025, I drove an ATV off an approximately 20-foot cliff, fracturing my C5 vertebra and sustaining a severe cervical spinal cord injury. I was airlifted twice before arriving at a trauma center in Santa Barbara, where I spent nearly a month in the surgical ICU.
My injuries required extensive surgery, including hardware and spinal fusion to stabilize my neck. I spent approximately three months dependent on a ventilator and had to relearn how to breathe independently. While I could not speak normally, I communicated with a visual letter board while navigating extraordinary pain, nerve sensations, and a body I could no longer move or feel in the way I once had.
I remained hospitalized from the end of March until the beginning of August 2025. At Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, respiratory rehabilitation, acute rehabilitation, physical therapy, and functional electrical stimulation became part of everyday life. My injury was classified as C4 AIS A—a diagnosis that describes the severity of my injury, but not the limits of what I am willing to pursue.
After leaving the hospital, I continued therapy and learned new ways to use technology. Without functional use of my fingers for traditional typing, I relied on voice dictation, a stylus, accessibility tools, accommodations, and support from my professors. I returned to school in January 2026 and completed my master’s degree in August 2026.
My path changed. My goals didn’t.
Perspectives I Explore
SCI & Accessibility
This section shares the realities of living with a spinal cord injury, including rehabilitation, rebuilding independence, adapting daily routines, and advocating for greater accessibility. I’ll also discuss therapies and tools I have personally experienced, along with lessons that may help individuals, families, and caregivers navigating similar changes.
AI & Emerging Technology
Here I explore artificial intelligence, neural interfaces, stimulation systems, eye-tracking tools, implants, and other emerging technologies that may expand independence. I’ll separate technologies I have personally used from experimental research I am following and share my perspective on how innovation could better serve people with disabilities.
Analytics & Business
This area focuses on using data to understand customers, evaluate performance, improve operations, and support stronger business decisions. I’ll share ideas and projects involving Python, R, Tableau, Power BI, machine learning, and business intelligence—always with an emphasis on turning analysis into practical action.
Grocery Retail
Grocery retail connects people from every income level, culture, and background through an essential service. I’ll examine store operations, merchandising, customer behavior, community partnerships, narrow profit margins, and how analytics, robotics, and AI can improve the industry without losing its human connection.
Marketing & Management
This section draws from my experience in cross-functional store management and corporate marketing. I’ll discuss campaigns, customer experience, employee communication, community engagement, leadership, and how marketing and management teams can work together to create measurable results.
Life & Perspective
This is where I’ll share personal reflections on resilience, education, identity, community, and adapting when life changes direction. It will also highlight milestones, challenges, lessons, and the mindset that helps me continue moving forward while encouraging others to pursue their own goals.
Where Business Experience Met Data
My interest in analytics began on the floor of a grocery store. Through years with Grocery Outlet, I gained cross-functional management experience across inventory, employees, merchandising, customers, marketing, and operations. My experience later extended to the corporate marketing team, where I contributed to initiatives including work surrounding Grocery Outlet’s partnership with Los Angeles Football Club.
I earned my bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from San Francisco State University, concentrating in Marketing and Management, and an associate degree in Spanish from Hartnell College. At Hult International Business School, my Master’s in Business Analytics introduced me to an international community and strengthened my experience with large language models, machine learning, Python, R, Tableau, Power BI, and emerging AI tools.
I want to connect marketing, operations, technology, analytics, management, and customer-facing teams. For me, analytics is not about producing another dashboard—it is about giving people better information to make better decisions.
Technology That Creates Possibility
After my spinal cord injury, technology stopped being something I was simply interested in. It became something that could directly affect my independence, health, communication, and future.
Functional electrical stimulation, FES cycling, and ARC-EX have shaped my rehabilitation experience. I have also explored emerging accessibility technologies involving eye tracking and wearable interfaces. These experiences allow me to evaluate innovation not only as an observer, but as someone who understands what even a small change in function can mean in everyday life.
I follow research involving stem cells, neural tissue, implanted and non-invasive neurostimulation, brain-computer interfaces, blood-pressure regulation, and AI-assisted interpretation of neurological signals. Many approaches remain experimental, but I want to stay close enough to the technology to watch that future being built—and hopefully help shape it.
Latest Thoughts
New perspectives are on the way.
This space will feature my thoughts and experiences across spinal cord injury, accessibility, AI, analytics, grocery retail, marketing, and emerging technology.
Let’s Start a Conversation
I’m interested in connecting with members of the SCI community, potential employers, accessibility innovators, researchers, grocery-retail leaders, and organizations interested in collaboration, product demonstrations, interviews, or speaking opportunities.
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