ElectroYogi Founder Nicole Policicchio Featured Again in Bold Journey Magazine! Here she talks about optimism and resilience.

https://boldjourney.com/meet-nicole-policicchio/

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Nicole Policicchio a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Nicole, so many exciting things to discuss, we can’t wait. Thanks for joining us and we appreciate you sharing your wisdom with our readers. So, maybe we can start by discussing optimism and where your optimism comes from?

I think my optimism comes from a deep longing to leave a positive mark on the people, places, and things I touch in this one wild and precious life. Every day we have a choice in how we want to show up in the world. One of my favorite Charles Bukowski quotes is “what matters most is how well you walk through the fire.” This resonates for me in terms of each day of living. Do I want to sweat the small stuff? No. Do I want to see life as ‘happening to me’? No. I want to be saying YES! I want to be making wise and joyful choices about how I spend my time, how I treat my clients, how I care for my family, and our Earth. My second favorite Bukowski quote, which is a title of both a poem and book, is “The Days Run Away Like Wild Horses Over the Hills”. We don’t get too much time here, and tomorrow is not promised. So as I age, as I witness aging and dying in those I love, and as I see the harm done to our planet and ecosystems by humans, I want to hold those days and hours and minutes tight to give as much optimism and positivity toward this life’s experiences as possible.
Additionally, I’ve experienced like most people a fair share of pain and hardship over my childhood. From those experiences, I was able to become resilient and dig deep to get through other hard experiences in adulthood… things like divorce, losing my team and 80% of my revenues for three years of the pandemic, etc. I never felt sorry for myself, and I fully recognize how fortunate I am to live the life I do have. And that brings me joy. It brings me optimism for tomorrow. And it helps me be a source of strength for my daughter, husband, friends, clients, family, and others.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

For nearly 18 years, I’ve built a compassionate and customer-focused electrolysis permanent hair removal practice and over the years came to be known as the ‘electrolysis goddess’ on YouTube and Instagram. Coming from a background in product management and then more than a decade as a documentary television producer and director, I have a unique set of skills in running a small business that deals with one of the most personal and intimate issues we have as women, men, and members of the LGBTQIA+ community, which is unwanted hair. Because I spent so many years interviewing people for television (often being known as the Barbara Walters of producers because folks felt so comfortable chatting with me that they’d be quite vulnerable, emotionally, and teary-eyed in sharing their truths), it felt very natural to hold my clients in a similar safe space here at ElectroYogi, where there is nothing too emotional, embarrassing, or vulnerable to share about their experiences. And, I and my wonderful small team are here to help them. Without judgment, and with pure loving-kindness. It’s been an amazing ride, and though the pandemic almost took us down, we have served thousands of happy, now hair-free clients over the years, and it is still so incredibly rewarding for me to do so.
Today, I’m mid-way through a Master’s program in sustainability focused on transforming our food system for greater equity, inclusion, and sustainability. My passion is urban and regenerative agriculture, and I’m about to start a cottage food business connected to my electrolysis practice where I farm, prepare, and serve fresh nutritious snacks and produce goodies for my community. Additionally, it is my intention in the next five years to move to Italy to have a regenerative, net-zero emitting micro-farm and bed and breakfast, building on all my learnings and experiences working with customers, guests, and caring for the land. So, I’m in the midst of a pivot! But ElectroYogi will not go anywhere… I am cultivating a team that will carry forward the same care, compassion, love, and quality of service we have brought for all these years. And I still intend to be the voice of the brand, managing the practice, and making informative YouTube videos about electrolysis AND sustainability :).

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

One of the last television shows I produced before my daughter was born was called, “Starting Over” for NBC. It was an empowerment series where women who had experienced great traumas, hardships, abuse, addiction, and more could come together with therapy and life coaching to gain the tools and relationships necessary to begin again with a new and hopefully better life. I didn’t realize it at the time, but that show directly influenced my journey from then on. It enhanced my grit, tenacity, and resilience. And right after that show, I too started over. Knowing that I didn’t want to be on the road as a producer of television while raising a child, I went back to school to become an electrologist. Six months later, with my daughter nearly one year old, I started ElectroYogi. Were it not for the grit to work hard, juggling new motherhood with a commute to electrolysis school and tutoring children to make money, or the tenacity to dive into a field I had no idea I could enjoy or be successful in, or the resilience to in fact complete that pivot to build a successful business while having the flexibility to be present and available to a beautiful child, I may not have gotten this far. I get emotional just thinking about how fortunate I’ve been to have these varied experiences and tools that have guided me! I’m so grateful.
I’m not much for advice, but if I had to offer any wisdom to those starting out (or starting over), it’s to be open to everything. Say Yes! Allow the universe to bring you opportunities, and also be willing to hunt them down. Be radically open, present, and available to things you may have never considered.

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?

I am always looking for people who want to make this incredible service practice of electrolysis their life’s work as I have for so long. There are not enough of us, AI will not take your job away, and everyone has unwanted hair… AND electrolysis is truly still the only permanent solution for it. It has been my dream to have a team that wants to stay with ElectroYogi for the long term, to grow together, and eventually become true equity partners as I make my pivot into full-time regenerative agriculture, tourism, and sustainability. At the same time, for folks outside Los Angeles, I’d love to coach more future electrologists around the world.
Additionally, in my pivot field of urban and regenerative agriculture and tourism, I’m absolutely looking to learn, grow, and collaborate with folks in Los Angeles and around California who are deep into these spaces because I believe the only way we will transform our human relationships with nature and improve food access, equity, and nutritional outcomes, is to radically partner with one another. It will be a tough challenge to navigate the perils of our climate emergency, and agriculture plays a huge role in improving outcomes over this next decade and beyond, so I am deeply committed to serving a more regenerative future for people, plants, animals, and our beautiful planet.