Hi, I Am Nile
Warrior Unleasher
Dream Liberator
Champion of Do-Gooders
Goal Getter
Coach
Advisor
Speaker
Educator
A Chi-Town girl by birth, and by choice, who grew up being told and sold that "you can't" or "you won't" be extraordinary in this life. Never one to be easily deterred from what I want, I am an explorer who 
's to help others unleash their warrior spirit and liberate their dreams from the confines of their minds by sharing my life and business lessons to shorten the learning curve for others.
There are two questions I always get. First, how did I end up here. And second, what is the warrior spirit? I'll answer the former. My story is an unlikely journey that I never envisioned. I am a multipotentialite unicorn swiss army knife. And I am so unapologetic about it.
How It Started
Just A Chi-Town Girl Living In A Complicated World
Act I: Oh Mom + Dad, Do I Have To?!?
School is probably where the story begins for most people. I am no exception. Even though I was born in Chicago, I moved to a small town, now considered a suburb. But then, it was a rural midwestern town just outside of Chicago. And this small town was complete with small minds when it came to girls who looked like me.
Often told by my teachers I won't be much in life, some of them would refuse to teach me. A curious and well-read kid, I typically had lots of questions. It wasn't enough to know a fact, I had to know the why behind it.
But I was also satisfied to satiate my appetite for knowledge outside of school. My parents used books as decorations. We had stacks and stacks and bookshelves filled with books. My parents sent me to school equipped to ensure my teachers taught me. My Dad would always say "you need to take your education, it will never be given to you. And in the summers, there was no break for me. I read books and wrote reports for my parents. Ugh.
Education involved more than books though. Oh no, I had to play sports and learn an instrument and do other extra-curricular activities. There was no coming home after school. My Mom made me start in sports running track and playing soccer. At the time there weren't a lot of girls playing, so I played on co-ed teams that was really all boys.
Because I said so.
-Every Parent Ever
Whenever I felt defeated, which was often because I didn't want to play sports in the first place, my Mom would say "you need to know that in life not only is it okay to play with the boys, it's okay to beat the boys".
And maybe that led to my focus on traditionally male-dominated industries, my love of collaboration, and my interest in seemingly unconnected things. More on that soon!
I can't say I've ever chosen the easiest path to anything. If the road doesn't twist and turn, it was my personal mission to wander into the wilderness. That's where all the action is anyway.
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The Wander Years
Grade school went by in the blink of an eye. I learned the flute and violin. I played soccer, ran track, was on the swim team, and did a brief stint as a cheerleader. I was a terrible cheerleader by the way. I served on class council and won a high school humanitarian award, lettered and was All Academic in soccer. I took AP classes in history, biology, and college credit in philosophy, not to mention four years of french. After all of this it was time to head to college. The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign became my home for the next four years where the wandering accelerated.
My chosen field of study was finance, but I wanted to know more. In my sophomore year I sought permission to be a dual degree in the College of Business and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Finance and a Bachelor of Liberal Arts and Sciences in Communications in four years. Realizing that in a world that was about to shrink due to the internet, I knew the hard skills of finance wouldn't be enough. My BA taught me the nuances of communications. classes such as biological psychology and speech and hearing science helped me to understand the world from different perspectives. But it was primarily driven for the interest I had in multiple things and a desire to connect the dots between them.
Show Me The Money
During my summers in college, I interned in the Chicago Board of Trade at Swiss Bank, a large global investment bank that is now UBS. The keys of the UBS logo? Those were inherited from Swiss Bank. My first three summers I worked in the stock loan department. But that third summer I worked on a trade desk on the Swiss Bank floor. This led to me having to go over to the CBOT trading floor occasionally.
Holy cow! I was in love 
.
When I was a kid riding the L train from Oak Park to Downtown Chicago, the train would pass bankers' row. And every time I saw the majestic Board of Trade at the head of the street, I would point and say to myself "I will work there". So everyday I donned my badge to walk through those doors was absolutely magical.
After college, of course I continued in financial services with the hope of becoming a trader on the floor of the CBOT one day. My first job was a mutual fund data analyst at Morningstar. Seeing my name listed in the publications was so exciting. However, it wasn't the excitement of the floor. Eventually I found myself at Mesirow Financial as an Account Manager with a Series 7 and 63 registered representative licence. And I was on the floor of the Chicago Board of Options Exchange frequently. The buzz and andrenlinine is like none other. Watching news ripple through the floor and impact stock prices was awesome.
Alas, though, it wasn't for me. It didn't give me a sense or purpose or contribution to the world. And eventually I found myself transitioning to my next act in my career. After a publically failed romantic relationship that left me in pieces, I packed up and left Chicago in search of my next great adventure.
Act II: Go Blue Or Go Home
After being rejected from every business school I applied to, I changed my strategy and began talking to people who were where I wanted to be. My hard work and determination paid off when I was accepted to the University of Michigan Business School (now Stephen M. Ross) as a Consortium for the Graduate Study in Management fellow. As a merit-based financial fellow my tuition was covered. At a time when only one in nine applicants was accepted, I was finally off to Ann Arbor after being rejected by the school twice before. Also in undergrad, but that's a different story.
Business school was life-changing in so many ways, not just professionally. As an explorer I became alive and did all the things. I visited Ireland and South Africa. I served as Vice President of the Black Business Student Association and Vice President of Communications for the Student Government Association. And I was part of a team that took second place in a NBMBAA case competition. It was here I discovered so many things about myself and equipped myself with skills to work with my introversion, became part of a new community of alumni, and attended games in the legendary Big House. You would never have known that my business school experience began with a deep bout of imposter syndrome.
Everything changed, but especially after my summer internship at Eli Lilly. Why didn't anyone tell me about healthcare? My internship there finally helped me connect what I do to a greater purpose. I wanted to help others and feel as if my work mattered.
My interest in connecting dots started to become a skill to think strategically and see the big picture. I was able to think across multiple spectrums, seemingly at once sometimes.
The real fun began after I graduated from Michigan with an MBA in Strategy and General Management, degree number three (of four, keep reading).
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Life Is Gonna Life
Act II led me to Minneapolis, where my life began to take thrilling turns and disappointing dives. I was one of two newly minted MBAs hired in to Medtronic's IT Leadership Development Program that year. My first rotation I worked for the CIO of the #1 pure play medical device company in the world. This program exposed me to healthcare at a high level. One of my rotations took me to the Netherlands on an expat assignment where I led the IT support integration for Europe.
After completing the rotation program, I was presented with an opportunity to work in the Corporate Strategy function. My one-over manager was the CEO of the company. That was how much exposure I had. I loved my job. There were times I would wake up in the middle of the night and couldn't wait to get to work. It wasn't only the exposure, but what I was learning about strategy, healthcare, medical devices, and the people I had the fortune to meet and work for. I worked for some incredible leaders who understood leadership. Then there came a point where that explorer needed more. At such a high level of the company, I didn't understand how strategy became actionable. So, I raised my hand to transition to a field sales position. After working for the President of the third largest business unit, I moved to Nashville for a hybrid sales and marketing opportunity in an OR-based clinically-trained role.
This move accelerated my skills and abilities in ways I never imagined. Though I had support, I was mostly on my own to drive my daily priorities and hit results. My team was always in the top three in the country. Me? I won several awards and recognitions for my work. But this is when those dots I loved to connect so much began to transform into execution. In sales, you eat what you kill. You have to know how to hunt, how to kill, how to cook, and how to conserve.
In sales you eat what you kill. You have to know how to hunt, kill, cook and conserve.
But because life is gonna life, at the height of my field experience I was laid-off as part of a reorganization. Deemed to be high potential, I was in the Emerging Leaders program at the time. So there were questions. Lots and lots of questions.
This is where my career began to take a disappointing dive. Even though I returned after several months. It was never the same. I was never the same. In the meantime, I started to do freelance consulting and secured a five-figure contract with the help of my network.
As an outlet for my creative energy, I learned how to make websites, do digital marketing, be a better leader, coach, and started a blog, The New Black Chick. Knowing that I never wanted to feel that way again, I figured out how I could take control of my destiny by continuing to do consulting on a small scale.
During my general management track at Medtronic I worked in IT, strategy, marketing, and sales. In addition, I founded the Black MBA affinity group still in existence today, asked to serve as the first University of Michigan recruiting lead, and won several recognitions, including a Marketing Innovation award. I was also selected as a Global Innovation Fellow taking me to Bolivia for a month.
After 13-years at Medtronic, the death of a good friend and mentor and also my father two weeks apart prompted me to rethink my choices and leave in pursuit of Act III.
Act III: Save The World
As you can probably imagine, a profound loss can cause you to reevaluate what's important. But two profound losses causes you to take action. But there was a moment with a manager that gave me complete clarity on my gift. He said my best skill was my ability to go from strategy to tactical execution effortlessly.
Act III opens with me on a short sabbatical that began with the added stress of my dog needing an emergency splenectomy. Believing that she had cancer, the vet prepared for the worst. When her operation revealed she had a large blood clot on her spleen that could have killed her within minutes if it ruptured, I knew it was time to kick myself into gear. Though my plan was to stay in biotech/medical device, I found myself being drawn toward a life-long passion, K-12 education. After a grueling application process I was selected for the Broad Residency in Urban Education leading strategy for LEAD Public Schools in Nashville.
Finally, I was going to save the world! During this time I also completed Nashville Young Leaders' Council non-profit board training and joined the Matthew Walker Comprehensive Healthcare Clinic board. Plus, I became an advisor at the Nashville Entrepreneur Center, advising startups on business basics.
This elite program puts residents through a rigorous curriculum where participants take their prior experience to help solve challenges in the public education space. This opportunity spoke to my mission-driven nature. And also my firm belief that everyone has a right to equitable access to a high quality education without regard for zip code. When I was in grade school I was subjected to all manner of racism, including being called derogatory terms by teachers and students alike. It was important to me that no child be forced to experience that ever again. I benefited from world-class educational opportunities, and I wanted to pay it forward.
Upon completing my two-year residency and being awarded a Master of Education in Education Leadership (degree four of four), I returned to medical device/biotech in a small boutique agency. But when my blood pressure reached 170/110, I knew it was time to pursue Act IV. This is the one that brings it all together.
How It's Going
Didn't See That Coming!
Act IV: A Radical + Inconvenient Truth
A mundane visit to the doctor changed everything. My blood pressure was so high that I couldn't leave the office. She asked me a series of questions to understand how my blood pressure reached 170/110. Plenty of exercise and a decent diet, nothing that would send my pressure to soaring heights. But on the drive home, I had to start speaking the truth to myself.
It was my job, yes, but really, the inconvenient truth was it was my fear. When I did the math I realized that my fear had been keeping me stuck for nearly eight years. Fear of not being good enough, of being too big, or losing my paycheck were the chains.
On that drive home a vision of myself as a six year old came to mind. It was an overcast day when my Mom and her friend took me to the beach one morning in Indiana. I grabbed a stick about the same height as me, waded out into the water, and began to beat the waves that were nearly twice my height with this stick. I was invincible.
With this picture in my mind, I zoomed in and began to wonder, what that little girl would think of our life? Would the girl who used to ride the train past the Chicago Board of Trade be proud of our career? Is the woman who got on a plane and flew to the Middle East by herself, camped outside in a Jordanian desert, hiked up Mount Sinai all to see the Nile River be still in here?
And in that moment of facing my radical and inconvenient truth my warrior spirit awakened.
The Warrior Awakens
I quit my job three months later and, just like when I was laid off, I scored a five-figure contract within a couple of months. But this time my business was a legitimate business. Several years prior I formed Harris Ventures Group, LLC and secured my URLs. That RIF at Medtronic taught me a few things - be ready, don't get ready. I had been taking courses and building a foundation for the past eight years. The truth is the universe will continue to put the same obstacle in your path until you learn the lesson, but it will get increasingly harder. Here I was in the jump zone and so, I jumped.
Those dots I to connect so much and those various interests I pursued? Turns out I"m a multipotentialite unicorn swiss army knife. In english that means I'm highly agile, assimilate information quickly, and execute, as my Area VP of sales once put it, flawlessly.
When you jump the universe has no choice but to rise up to meet you.
Bulletproof
I began to pursue my purpose and passion. I had no clue what I was doing, at first. But I took more classes and did the work. I secured small contracts. It was during this time, I realized I was coaching and consulting, but only getting paid for the consulting. It took a client to point out to me that I was a coach, and great one at that. I also was a contributing author to an Amazon Best Seller, 20 Beautiful Women Volume 5. In this book I shared how to be bullet proof in a world that is constantly taking aim, and what it means to be bullet proof. I briefly detailed a pivotal point in my career when a senior leader's ambivalence toward my request for help pushed me to take action.
I developed my Warrior Unleashed coaching program. A few years before this, I became an advisor at the Nashville Entrepreneur Center, but now I was named an inaugural Advisor in Residence with a slate of healthcare, HIT, and medical device startups I advise and asked to serve on the Managerial Advisory Board of a success medical device startup. Plus, I became an advisor for Lifescience Tennessee.
Man! When you let your warrior wake up and unleash it, the universe begins to bend to your will.
My desire is to share my lessons with people to shorten their learning curve, help them unleash their warrior spirit and make the jump.
I have had access to amazing opportunities that I took advantage of and sharing with those who are need is my passion. And that's what brings me to you today.
How It Will Be
My purpose is to help others unleash their warrior, unlock their full potential, and achieve their most audacious dreams and goals.
So What Do I Do Exactly?
I work with businesses, entrepreneurs, and professionals to transform their passion and purpose into P.R.O.F.I.T. by helping you unleash your warrior spirit and make the jump using advising, coaching, and educational content to help you gain clarity, set goals, and get stuff done.
My Warrior's Weapon
My superpower is helping you liberate your dreams for the confines of your mind by showing you how to close the strategy-to-execution gap.
My Warrior's Creed
Fear can be a friend, a foe, or a fire.
I let it ignite me.
My Warrior's Quest
My why is to do good in the world by helping do-gooders do good in the world.
My Warrior's Flame
Closing the opportunity gap, exposing imposter syndrome, revealing inconvenient truths, and equipping warriors to jump and soar.
And I'm Only Getting Started
A dream realized can change the world. My vision is to change the world one dream at a time.
My Wish For You Is To Stop Being Selfish
If you are keeping your gift from the world because of fear? That's selfish.
I get it. I was there. Frankly, there are days when I visit the old neighborhood. It's not always roses and butterflies. But that's what my wings are for, to soar. Someone once told me I was selfish. My gifts are for others, not me.
Being fearful is an indulgence that is causing others to stay stuck because they need what you have to say. Where would the businesses and people I've coached be had I not answered the call? What I had to say was for them and it was put in me to say it.
My driving motivation is to remove the ties and reveal the lies that bind your warrior spirit so you can unleash it and unlock your full potential. Your warrior never dies, it only waits for you to call it and rise.
My Full Bio
TL;DR
I Am Nile. Unleasher of Warriors, Liberator of Dreams, Champion of Do-Gooders, Disrupter of Fear, and Maker of Jumps. First of My Name.
A warrior unleasher, dream liberator, and champion of do-gooders, Nile Harris is a coach, advisor, speaker, educator, and Amazon Best Selling author working with businesses, entrepreneurs, and professionals to transform their passion and purpose into P.R.O.F.I.T. by helping them unleash their warrior spirit and make the jump.
As the founder of HVG Advising + Consulting, Warrior Unleashed Coaching, and Warrior Jump School, she provides keynotes, educational content and results-based executive, life, and business coaching programs to help her warrior clients capitalize on change and accelerate their results using her signature frameworks.
With 24 years of experience working with Fortune 500 companies, startups, and nonprofits in the financial services, medical device, and education sectors, Nile has generated millions and delivered results by taking action to clarify vision, craft strategies, and execute plans with laser-like precision to realize mission-critical outcomes.
Nile has successfully made several jumps in her life. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Finance and a Bachelor of Liberal Arts and Sciences in Communications in four years from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Following her tenure at world-renowned investment banks, she was admitted to the University of Michigan Business School as a Consortium for Graduate Study in Management Fellow, receiving a full-tuition fellowship to earn an MBA in General Management and Strategy.
During her journey at the world's leading medical device company, she demonstrated her agility going from a corporate strategy position to a field sales/marketing role working with surgeons in the OR. Upon her transition to marketing, she turned-around her product franchise exceeding the revenue target and gained distinction as a Global Innovation Fellow. Subsequently selected as a Broad Center for the Management of School Systems resident, she led strategy for the largest Charter Management Organization in Tennessee, earning her a Master of Education in Education Leadership. Currently, she serves as an Advisor In Residence at the Nashville Entrepreneur Center, a named Advisory Board Member for a medical device startup, an Expert Advisor for Life Science Tennessee, and as Vice Chair of Matthew Walker Comprehensive Healthcare Clinic Board of Directors.
She is one of the Amazon best-selling authors of 20 Beautiful Women Volume 5, sharing her story of how to be bulletproof when others are taking aim. In short, her experiences have prepared her for a time such as this. Nile is a multipotentialite unicorn swiss army knife. Her mission is to close the wealth, health, and education disparity gap in America. And her why is to do good in the world by helping do-gooders do good in the world.
Copyright 2015 - 2024 Nile Harris™️ and Warrior Unleashed™️ are registered trademarks of Harris Ventures Group, LLC, all rights reserved.
