Community Elects Nicole Robinson to STLCC Board of Trustees

JACOB POLITTE Managing EDITOR

Nicole Robinson, Ed.D., has taken a position as part of the Board of Trustees in subdistrict 2 after winning the April 4 election. She was sworn in at the STLCC Board of Trustees Meeting April 20 at the Corporate College.

Robinson has a history in banking, which she said forced her to think about what her next career step would be. Her current position is as Vice President of public policy and community solutions for a local developer. In addition, she has a history in housing. Robinson has a nonprofit for breast cancer survivors. “I’m all things breast cancer,” Robinson said, as she is currently a breast cancer survivor and patient and working to advocate for those going through chemotherapy and losing their hair.

During the pandemic and working remotely, Robinson said that she and many others had to think to themselves, “What kind of impact will I have?” This question is what drove her to begin this nonprofit.

Born and raised in St. Louis, Robinson did not expect to wind up back here after moving around and going to school in other cities such as Los Angeles. She was focused on advocacy work when she had met a woman from St. Louis who convinced her to volunteer for her and deal with health and families. Robinson said that volunteering is what she loves and continues to do whenever she can. Eventually, she was faced with the question of moving to St. Louis permanently. She took the opportunity to have a positive impact on communities.

To Robinson, being on the Board of Trustees means “having a voice” and “having a seat at the table.” She hopes to help communities who are “not really being served and who are being missed out on.” She wants those communities to be able to have the programming, jobs, and funding needed, because “those all impact the community.”

Her short-term goals include student enrollment, as it is dropping in colleges. She said she wants underserved communities to be aware of the opportunities around them and to promote the advantages of STLCC. She wants to “revive the visibility of community college.” As she said, “We know it’s there, but not what it offers us.”

Her passions are in “serving others.” She said she has always loved leadership positions because the most satisfying accomplishment is to have given back and see someone succeed. A good example of this to her is how she mentored a young woman in her church and now that woman is all grown up and they went on a vacation to Brazil together. The woman used to be a troubled teen and now they talk about those memories together and Robinson said she loves to see how people succeed in life.

Today, Robinson has two children and six grandchildren. One of her grandchildren is in community college. She has dedicated much of her time outside of work and volunteering to her new pug puppy, Lovey, and to spending time with family, trying out new restaurants. As a nontraditional student and teen mom raised in a family who struggled economically, Robinson got her doctorate and hoped to be a “beacon in the community, saying ‘you can do it, too.’” She wants students to know that “all things are possible.”