Occupation: Mom, family therapist What inspires you? Passionate people As a middle child of two brothers, Nellie grew her fingernails long, not to set herself apart as the beautiful girl child, but to use them as weapons. Nellie learned early on in life that nice girls don’t finish first and found herself in fierce competition for everything at a very young age. Then came junior high and Nellie learned that nice girls do have a better chance at finishing first and she decided to put her weapons away (or at least began to shape them and paint them pretty colors) and learned to suppress the urge to beat the socks off people just so she could win. Nellie learned that being nice helped her to fit in better socially. So she did nice things and said nice things, most of the time. By adulthood, Nellie learned that being nice all the time was BORING! So she began researching ways how she could let out her inner fierce child without hurting her friends and family. From the moment she saw her first roller derby bout, she knew that she had found exactly what she needed. She could be Nice and Fierce. Life balance had been found. And if you take a close look, you will see that nowadays Nellie does not grow her nails long or paint them pretty colors.