Heather Nickerson is the co-founder and CEO of Artifcts. She is an avid hiker, skier, baker, storyteller, and collector of memories. Prior to co-founding Artifcts Heather served as President of a private security company and authored a book on how to protect your privacy. She also served for nearly a decade as an intelligence analyst with the Central Intelligence Agency, including serving as a briefer in a war zone tour in Afghanistan.
Learn more about Heather here:
Where is home for you? City/Province, State, Country
Washington, DC
If you are an entrepreneur, what motivated you to start your own business?
My mother was the initial inspiration for Artifcts. She passed away unexpectedly several years ago. Like most of us, she had a lot of stuff.
Following my mother’s death, I was frustrated because I had her stuff, but what I really wanted were her stories. The who, what, when, where, and why behind the objects. Why did she have a certain item? Where did it come from? When did she get it? Sadly, the objects could not tell her story. Only my mother could have done that, and she was no longer here.
That was the genesis of Artifcts—an overwhelming desire to ensure that anyone anywhere would have a safe and secure way to pass down stories, not just things.
What is your mantra or favorite saying? (If it’s a known quote, please let us know who said it first!)
“Well behaved women seldom make history” -Laurel Ulrich
What does women’s empowerment look like to you in action?
Women helping women; mothers helping daughters; mentors helping mentees; friends helping friends.
What would you tell 19-year-old YOU?
She would have told her 19-year-old self to take more chances. Life is not a ladder, and careers may go sideways, backwards, up, and down. There is no one “right” way to accomplish your goals, so be open to new ideas and new paths.
What’s a book title or podcast that you have loved in the past year or so?
Matt Haig’s The Midnight Library. It really makes you appreciate the small details in life.
