Nicole,
owner of D’être Creative Co.

Nicole Fournié (Smolinski) is a writer, creative director, TEDx speaker, and journaling event host trained as a mental health clinician in California. As she spent time with her therapy clients, she began dreaming up ways to bring the principles she guides people through in therapy outside of the therapy room and into our communities. This dream has caused her to lead reflective journaling experiences for conferences with hundreds of attendees, like B Corp's Champions Retreat, as well as facilitating small, intimate groups of womxn in her local community. Writing has always been the first place she felt safe to explore her own emotions, and she draws much of her inspiration from nature to help make sense of her inner world. A writer herself, Nicole has authored three of Amazon’s #1 new releases in categories like Inspirational Poetry.

As someone who consistently finds art and creation cathartic, she enjoys exploring the intersection between psychology and creativity. While there is an extremely valuable place for therapy in our world, Nicole aims to forge a path, through the brands she partners with, her wellness events and product offerings, where well-being is explored creatively, and conscious conversations are accessible, connective, and non-intimidating for the everyday person.

She does this by curating and hosting her own guided journaling events, creating intentional stationery products to help people self-reflect on their own, and by aiding in the creative direction of other businesses' events, content and strategy when called upon — so that they, too, can provide their offerings in intentional, meaningful and connective ways. Over the years, as Nicole has built her business, others have asked for guidance on how to make their business decisions more meaningful and intentional, a beautiful pivoting away from overdone, mindless and soul-less branding, marketing and community building; she has been honored to help these businesses navigate ways to infuse emotion and human-centered stories back into their daily doings.

Nicole received her B.A. in Psychology from the University of California, Davis in 2017 where she competed on the DI women’s soccer team for four years. After her undergraduate play, Nicole went on to compete with the Polish national team recruits for a short time before deciding to complete her M.S. in Clinical Psychology at Vanguard University of Southern California. 

All around, Nicole is a human doing her best to make sense of the world by exploring the intersections between well-being, creativity and expression. Nicole is fueled by living authentically and intentionally. She hopes to continue building a life where she writes and speaks regularly about wellness, emotional freedom and living as genuinely as possible (even if it’s not necessarily pretty or put-together). When not working with sweet brand around town, writing, or leading workshops, Nicole enjoys sitting at local coffee shops, eating delicious food with loved ones, and spending time outdoors.