Nicole De Fulgentiis is trailblazing through her career as Founder and Creative Director of H3R Magazine, a luxury social media magazine that features businesswomen & ethical brands around. Through many trials and tribulations, Nicole had to build herself from the ground up to find exactly what she wanted in life.
Who is Nicole De Fulgentiis?
Virgo
Enneagram 9
INFJ
Fall season lover
Bookworm
Health-conscious
Goal-driven
For the first 15 years of my life, I grew up with money. My dad worked in reinsurance while my mom stayed home. I went to a private school, country clubs and traveled periodically. I got a taste of the luxuries of the higher life, which I feel so blessed to have experienced. But, the 2008 recession affected our lives forever.
My dad lost everything. People still question how that happens if he had savings, and truthfully he didn’t tell us that he lost his job for a year. He tried to make up for it by even taking out money on the house. As the domino effect continued, my parents divorced, and my dad became an alcoholic, which later severed our relationship.
My mom was totally blindsided and left with nothing. My mom’s friend bought her a place to live, but with no job experience in years, she had to navigate corporate America alone.
One month my life is in an entirely different social-economic bracket, and then the next month, I am trying to adjust to a new place, public school, and working full time to provide for my younger sister Ava. At 15 years old, I was stressed about food, car insurance, gas, and survival. I felt like I didn’t know my mom anymore because of what she was going through.
When I moved onto college, I continued to work full time in the morning and online classes in the evening. While this left me with a great work ethic, it also fueled my hunger to find my purpose in life.
“It’s easy to take on your surroundings as an identity, but when everything is stripped from you, you have to look inward and figure out who you are and what you want in life.”
I realized I loved anything to do with creating. In my free time, I created graphics and watched YouTube videos on creation. Aside from my desires, I knew I needed therapy. Unfortunately, we couldn’t afford it, so I turned to videos from motivational gurus, reading inspirational books, and reaching for the tools I needed to heal. As a social outlet, I became involved in non-profits and volunteer work.
In my life today, I’m very close with my mom and sister. During quarantine, I pursued a full-time freelance career creating websites, graphics, and building e-courses. Whatever anyone needed, I did, and if I didn’t know it, I learned overnight. This helped me move out of my mom’s house, which was the most bittersweet yet liberating feeling of independence. Unfortunately, all five of my clients dropped me because of covid. At the time, I had a giant vision board by my desk that caught my eye while meeting with one of my interns.
“What if we started a magazine all about women in business?”
H3R is the sum of my favorite things; women, business, creation, design, motivation. Every day I’m excited to meet new people and hear their stories. There’s nothing more motivating than meeting someone who is doing something because THEY want to do it.
What inspired you to create H3R magazine? Is there a story behind this creation?
I wanted a place where women could come together and feel connected, inspired, and fueled. A continuous stream of testimonies that speaks to every race, ethnicity, religion, and belief system. An opportunity to share each woman’s experience.
Running a business is never linear. What experiences have you faced running your magazine?
Every month I learn something, I’ve accepted that nothing is going to be perfect, and there will always be surprises. Sometimes you’re going to be tired or unmotivated, but you have to value commitment and show up no matter what. Having a personal relationship with the mission behind your company gives you more incentive to stay in it for the long run.
You have to make sure you have the long-term vision in mind and create a system where it’s sustainable. Operations was an essential area of focus within the first few months of H3R. We built a whole database to make sure we were organized, which helped me keep moving forward.
What is one tip you would give to someone going into your field of work?
It would be best to have a team; it’s hard to make a significant impact alone. So many people have different talents and gifts to bring to the table. The more minds, the better. Working with a group of people keeps you in line and keeps you inspired.
This helps you let go of control; if you micromanage everything in your business, you will not learn how to trust others with your business making growth nearly impossible. Set your standards high.
Every single month, you must celebrate your wins, big and small. Reward yourself. Create a vision board. Visualize your success.
So many of us have a similar story to Nicole, a story based on soul searching and the journey of finding who you are outside of your hardships. It’s safe to say she is an inspiration to all of us healing, learning, and growing. We are so excited to see Nicole and H3R Magazine continue to flourish.
Keep in contact with H3R on their Digital Photographer, Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, and Website. Connect with Nicole on her Tik Tok, and email her at nicole@h3r.space if you would like to be featured in H3R Magazine.
As always, you can keep in contact with CADA on our Instagrams; @cada_consult and @cada_culture, our Pinterest, and our TikTok.
