My Story

Hello, Family. I'm Pastor Nicole Washington.

I am a Southern Black American woman — and I say that with intention.

My roots run deep in the founding heritage of this nation. I come from ancestors who prayed in secret, sacrificed in silence, endured what should have broken them, and refused to give up. Their blood is in my veins. Their faith is in my bones. Their resilience became my inheritance before I was old enough to understand what I had been given.

I tell you who I am upfront because I have spent a lifetime navigating a world that wanted to decide for me. Too black for some spaces. Not black enough for others. And through every one of those moments God was quietly teaching me something that would eventually become the foundation of everything I do — your identity is not determined by what other people see when they look at you. It is determined by who God says you are.

That lesson did not come easy. It came through rejection, through grief, through illness, through seasons where I had to choose between bitterness and purpose. I chose purpose. And I am still choosing it today.

I am a pastor, teacher, author, speaker, patient advocate, ministry founder, and community leader with more than 38 years of ministry experience. My professional journey has taken me from the classroom to the counseling office, from the pulpit to the boardroom, from Fortune 100 leadership training to sitting in a dialysis chair three times a week — still teaching, still writing, still building.

My educational background includes studies in Biology and Chemistry at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, a Bachelor of Arts in Science from Metropolitan State University, and a Master of Arts in Educational Psychology from Atlanta University, where I also completed doctoral coursework.

I have served as a school counselor, a corporate trainer for Fortune 100 organizations, a newspaper columnist, a consultant, and a pastor. I founded Success Factory Ministries, FAB Women — Faithful Anointed and Blessed Women — and Nicole Washington Ministries. I am also the founder of IMPACT Black Kidney Health, a national initiative dedicated to kidney health education and advocacy in Black communities, and the Ida B. Wells Educational Scholarship Fund, supporting students whose educational journeys have been disrupted by illness, caregiving, or life's hardest seasons.

But here is what my resume cannot fully capture.

I understand illness because I am living with end-stage renal disease and receive dialysis three times a week. I understand caregiving because I have walked that road for years. I understand grief, rejection, betrayal, church hurt, and the particular exhaustion of carrying more than one person should ever have to carry alone — because I have lived every one of those things.

I do not write and teach from a distance. I write and teach from the middle of it.

And if you have found your way to this page today — tired, hurting, overlooked, sick, confused, or just trying to find your way back to hope — then you are exactly who this ministry was built for.

You are not alone. Your story is not over. And you are still here for a reason.

Welcome home.