Dr. Nicole Ford-Francis: The Alchemist of the Boardroom and the Apothecary

There are two distinct worlds in which Dr. Nicole Ford-Francis operates, and on the surface, they seem galaxies apart. In one, she is a high-level strategy consultant, a formidable presence in the universe of aerospace and defense contracting. This is a world of secure facilities, of Six Sigma Master Black Belts and CMMI Level II Certifications, of navigating the complex orbits of the Department of Defense, the Army, and the Air Force. It is the world where, as a Program Manager for a NASA Headquarters contractor, she helped oversee a $149.5 million minority business contract supporting everything from the International Space Station to the Space Shuttle Program. This world is precise, data-driven, and built on the rigorous architecture of logic and strategy.

Then there is her other world. This one smells of frankincense and myrrh, of lavender and rosemary. It is a world of tinctures and tonics, of oils and teas brewed from roots, flowers, and resins. Here, she is an Herbalist and Energy Therapeutics Practitioner, a Certified Spiritual Life Coach who speaks of neuroplasticity and narrative healing. This is the world of Unicorn Pharmacopeia, her holistic practice, where the goal isn’t winning a contract but mending a spirit, where success is measured in the quiet easing of anxiety or the slow retreat of chronic pain.

To most, these two realities would seem to be in opposition, a contradiction in a life’s purpose. But to spend any time understanding Nicole Ford-Francis is to realize that she is not living a double life. She is living a deeply integrated one. She is a systems thinker of the highest order, and she has come to understand that the principles that govern a multi-million-dollar government program are not so different from those that govern the well-being of a human soul. Both are complex systems. Both require a deep diagnosis. And both, she believes, can be healed and transformed through a kind of modern alchemy—a methodical, mindful process of turning one thing into something better. Whether the raw material is a business plan or a botanical, her work is the same: to create a positive change, to move from a negative condition to a healed one.

The Alchemist’s Inheritance

To find the source code for Nicole’s entire philosophy, you must travel back in time and south to Albany, Georgia. There lived her late grandmother, a healer of African-American and Cherokee Native American descent. She was not a doctor in the traditional sense, but her healing was profound. It was delivered through her food, through the quiet comfort of her care-taking, through the love she infused into her home, and through the home-made medicines she crafted from the knowledge passed down through generations. Nicole watched her grandmother’s entire life, absorbing not just the remedies but the ethos: that healing was an act of service, an offering.

This inheritance was braided together with two other powerful threads. The first was a deep and abiding spirituality. As a child, Nicole saw the Bible not just as a religious text but as an amazing book about a Creator’s healing power, finding particular solace in the creation stories of Genesis and the poetry of the Psalms. The second thread was a love for science. Like her mother, she became a special educator. As a biology teacher, she was fascinated by the elegant, observable laws of the natural world.

For many, science and faith occupy separate spheres, but for Nicole, they were always part of the same quest. “I wanted to learn how Science proved God,” she explains. This singular curiosity became the engine of her life. She saw teaching and healing as spiritual acts, and the creation of a lesson plan or a plant-based medicine as a form of worship. This was the foundation, a belief that the spiritual and the scientific were merely different languages describing the same magnificent truth.

From the Cosmos to the Corporation

Nicole’s professional journey seemed, for a time, to lead her exclusively down the path of science and systems. For over 25 years, she immersed herself in the demanding worlds of non-profit sectors, corporate America and government contracting. As the President of Visionaries in Partnership (VIP), Inc., a Think Tank and consulting firm, she became known for her phenomenal strategic thinking, working behind the scenes to support decision-makers on highly sensitive programs. She became a sought-after proposal manager, a writer who could translate complex technical requirements into winning aerospace and defense contracts.

Her work at NASA Headquarters placed her at the intersection of cosmic exploration and human endeavor. As Program Manager and Board Member for the NRESS OMNIBUS Contract, she was involved in the intricate machinery that supported NASA’s mission directorates in education, space technology, and aeronautics. Nicole earned the hard-won credentials of the corporate world: a Six Sigma Master Black Belt from the International Six Sigma Institute and a Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) Level II Certification from Carnegie Mellon University. She even became a business loan broker with VIP/ROK Financial, empowering small to medium-sized businesses with the capital, from $10,000 to $5 million, needed to grow.

But looking up at the stars from within the heart of NASA didn’t diminish Nicole’s spiritual inclinations; it amplified them. “Working at NASA and in Aerospace opened my eyes even more to the greatness of God or our Creator,” she reflects. The vast, orderly, and mysterious universe was the ultimate complex system. It was here that she saw, on the grandest scale imaginable, the proof she had been seeking. And it was this perspective that she would eventually bring back down to Earth, to the microcosm of the human body and spirit.

The Unicorn’s Laboratory

At Unicorn Pharmacopeia, Nicole is not just a practitioner; she is a translator. She bridges the ancient and the modern, the spiritual and the scientific. Her practice of “Modern Herbal Alchemy” is about taking ancestral knowledge of plants and energy and applying it with a methodical rigor to the ailments of contemporary life: anxiety, depression, inflammation, diabetes, high blood pressure, and more.

Nicole begins not with remedies, but with listening. For several days before a new client’s visit, whether virtual or in-person, she prepares, creating a safe and professional space for what is to come. A cornerstone of her method is the Life Mapping exercise, a process of highlighting important life events to identify patterns, cycles, and the “invisible narratives” that leaders and individuals carry with them. This is where her work as a biosociologist shines; she understands that our stories are shaped by biology, environment, and experience.

From this deep diagnosis, an integrative care plan evolves. Her herbalism is rooted in a profound respect for the integrity of the plant. While pharmaceutical medications often isolate a single active ingredient, she uses the whole plant, the root, flower, leaves, or resin, to create her medicines. These take the form of oils, teas, tinctures, or steam-based “brews.” She speaks of the therapeutic and spiritual uses of each herb, from the calming properties of lavender to the sacred, purifying energies of frankincense and myrrh.

This work is done in careful concert with modern medicine. Before beginning any protocol, she conducts a full medical background check, noting a client’s current medications and dosages. “Herbal medicine may interact with some drugs and must be respected,” Nicole cautions, noting that certain herbs can powerfully affect blood pressure or insulin production. She maintains open lines of communication with her clients’ traditional doctors, creating a truly collaborative and holistic model of care.

The Architect of Strategic Mindfulness™

The ultimate synthesis of Nicole’s two worlds is her trademarked creation: Strategic Mindfulness™. This is not a fuzzy wellness trend; it is a tactical framework for executive transformation. It is the culmination of her work in high-pressure boardrooms and serene healing spaces, designed for the very leaders whose stress and burnout she understands so intimately.

Strategic Mindfulness™ is built on five pillars:

Trauma-Informed Insight: Acknowledging the hidden personal histories that shape leadership styles.
Narrative Intelligence: Using storytelling and Life Mapping as diagnostic tools to uncover blind spots and unlock potential.
Neuroscience-Driven Practice: Applying principles of neuroplasticity to intentionally reshape habits and emotional responses through rituals, meditation, and even sound therapy.
Mindful Decision Architecture: Embedding moments of intentional pause and reflection into the core systems of an organization, from meetings to negotiations.
Strategic Reflection: Treating reflection not as a luxury but as an essential tool for innovation and ethical clarity.

This is where the Six Sigma strategist and the holistic healer become one. She is applying a systems-level analysis to the human operating system of a leader. She teaches this transformative approach as an advisory board member for the Transformative Leadership in Disruptive Times Certificate Program at the George Washington University School of Business. Nicole’s work extends globally, from consulting for the National Health Insurance Authority in Ghana to chairing the board for the POPYA Assistance Foundation in Namibia, which fights gender-based violence.

A Legacy of Story

For all Nicole’s accolades, the NAACP awards for Educational Advocacy, the NASA certificates for excellence, her definition of success has evolved. She now calls it “Strategic Mindfulness,” a state of being that goes beyond metrics of productivity. It is about wholeness, purpose, and emotional integrity. It is the antidote to the burnout she sees in so many high-stakes environments.

In her own life, as a mother and a grandmother living in the Washington, D.C. area, she practices these principles: focusing on her staff, forgiving her own imperfections, and building communities where vulnerability and strength are seen as two sides of the same coin.

“As a biosociologist and educator, I know that leadership isn’t just about strategy, it’s about STORY,” Nicole says with conviction. “Every executive, team member and student owns a story shaped by biology, environment, and experience.” Her life’s work, from the halls of NASA to the sanctuary of her apothecary, has been about learning to read, honor, and ultimately help rewrite those stories. Dr. Nicole Ford-Francis has shown that when you cultivate systems that elevate the human spirit, you create leaders whose legacies are not just written in contracts and profits, but are rooted in empathy, fortified by courage, and guided by truth.