Nicole Olaniyi

Nicole Olaniyi is an author, academic and career coach, nonprofit leader, and co-founder of **Lionheart Coaching Academy**, an organization that helps high school and college students connect academic achievement with identity, purpose, emotional well-being, and long-term success. Through Lionheart Coaching Academy, Nicole works with students, families, schools, and community organizations to provide personalized academic coaching, college-admissions guidance, scholarship strategy, and purpose-centered leadership development. The organization challenges the idea that student success should be measured solely by grades, awards, or acceptance letters. Instead, it promotes a more holistic model of achievement that considers the student’s mind, heart, spirit, identity, and overall well-being. Nicole’s work is informed by her own exceptional academic journey. She earned more than $2 million in scholarship opportunities and received eight full-ride college offers, including an opportunity to attend Princeton University. Drawing from that experience, she now helps students and their families identify competitive educational opportunities, reduce the financial burden of college, and pursue ambitious goals without losing sight of who they are or why those goals matter. She is also the author of ***The Unboxing: A Black Girl’s Journey of Mental Health, Faith, and Identity***, a memoir that explores her personal experiences with achievement, depression, anxiety, disordered eating, faith, and the struggle to maintain a sense of self beneath the pressure to succeed. Her story reveals an important truth: a person can appear highly accomplished on the outside while privately struggling to remain emotionally and spiritually whole. In addition to her educational work, Nicole is a co-creator of **Black Founders Formula**, an initiative supporting Black entrepreneurs as they build, position, and grow their businesses. Across her work, she remains committed to helping individuals pursue excellence in ways that are healthy, purposeful, and sustainable. Nicole’s appearance on **The Lifestrong Project** reflects the episode’s complete theme, **“Excellence Without Burnout: Redefining Success for Black Students and Families.”** Her story offers students, parents, and educators a more honest definition of success—one in which achievement never has to come at the expense of mental health, identity, peace, or wholeness.