Meet Nicola Lambo

We were lucky to catch up with Nicola Lambo recently and have shared our conversation below.

Nicola, thank you so much for joining us today. Let’s jump right into something we’re really interested in hearing about from you – being the only one in the room. So many of us find ourselves as the only woman in the room, the only immigrant or the only artist in the room, etc. Can you talk to us about how you have learned to be effective and successful in situations where you are the only one in the room like you?

Truth be told, I have learned to be effective or successful even when I am the only one in the room that looks like me, by not worrying about being the only one in the room that looks like me, and instead focusing on why I’m in the room. I decided to work from a place of intention, which I got from listening to Oprah Winfrey’s insight and her wisdom. My purpose has evolved into leaving this place better than I found it and in doing so, what has my attention is the question that I heard Sadhguru ask of himself, “Is my life an expression of joy.” That question in and of itself allows my attention to shift from self-centered awareness to a mindset that offers up the answer to, “What energy am I bringing into the room with me?” It becomes a service oriented purpose. This thought process develops a, “How can I?” mentality, embracing the experiences you want to have and how you want to feel on a daily basis and what you want to pass on to each person you come in contact with. That thinking has afforded me the ability to keep my attention on my true north and remain tapped into why I do what I do, keep the main thing, the main thing, and leave a trail of gratitude along my way which stacks up to a legacy of good will.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I began my journey in entertainment as a singer who, right out of college got scouted by Walt Disney World, hired on the spot, and entered a whirlwind career performing several roles on stage, most notably “Nala” in Disney World’s theater version of “The Lion King” called “Festival of the Lion King” and singing in the premier a cappella vocal group at Epcot, “Voices of Liberty.” As life would have it, I expanded into acting full time once I took the leap of faith to move from Florida to California after life blatantly pointed me in that direction with the help of some incredibly supportive friends and relationships I forged. I like to listen to the God winks along my path, any time I have ever resisted what my gut instinct is calling me to do, I’ve had to learn the hard way, when life is trying to tell you something, listen.

I stepped into a new career which allowed me to develop my corporation, 4Evolution, a company designed to elevate the starving artist mentality with each project I am a part of. Being an actor has taught me oodles about myself, others, shaped my perspective, fortified my resilience, adaptability, and willingness to persevere through all kinds of adversity. As a child of a single mom, I was determined to make good on my mothers belief in me. She has always said, “You can do anything you set your mind to.” I grew to know, that came along with requirements of hard work, a deep seated faith, and investing time into building strong relationships. I’m grateful to be doing just that, having been on TV shows, in movies, and commercials. I felt a tug for expressing my voice with pen to paper several years ago and began writing spoken word poetry which has since evolved and expanded.

I started writing longer content over 2 years ago in an answer to a call to action I heard from Ed Mylett, one of the podcast thought leaders I listen to regularly. Ed felt that there is a kindness deficit facing the world and asked the listener, what can you do to cultivate more kindness in the world. I took that question to heart and as I was doing my daily 8 mile jog while listening to podcasts, an entire brand called, “Color Your Kindness” came to me along with the idea for a book series, “Kindred & Culture Adventure Tales,” aimed at public school curriculum for ages 6-12yrs old, the motto “Kind Redefined” centered around teaching morales, ethics, and values through the lens of kindness. The vision was so viscerally clear, it’s all I have been able to fixate on to see it come to fruition. I am thrilled to have a wonderful illustrator who is literally bringing these characters to life before my eyes. Kindred Spirt, the main character is vibrant, loving, and life giving with an insatiable curiosity and happens to be a voracious reader, she is the conduit for life lessons and life experiences that encourages kids to go out and create these beautiful life experiences for themselves. Rather that random acts, the books promote intentional acts of kindness which takes her and her brother on all kinds of exciting adventures.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

1. Lead with love in all you do. Towards yourself and towards others, I’ve come to ask myself when I am having a tough time, “What would love do in this situation?”
2. I’ve adopted this filter system as a guideline for communication that I got from Rumi, the Sufi poet: It’s a great litmus test.
Before you speak, let your words pass through 3 gates.
At the 1st gate, ask yourself, “Is it True?”
At the 2nd gate, ask yourself, “Is it Kind?”
At the 3rd gate, ask yourself, “Is it Necessary?”
3. I live life by this Abraham Lincoln quote, “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” It requires that you take personal responsibility for your life while empowering you, all at the same time.

Thanks so much for sharing all these insights with us today. Before we go, is there a book that’s played in important role in your development?

Napoleon Hill’s “Think and Grow Rich” has been foundational principles for me. I wish I could say there is one big take away but truthfully the concepts in that book have been the most life changing, evident the moment I started to practice the skills, mindset, and habits he encourages the reader to put in place. I even created a group called “DO IT” based on his master mind group mentality to achieve some of the goals, when 2 or more are gathered together magic happens. There is nothing like that collective, collaborative combined intelligence to generate creative solutions and world class ideas.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://nicolalambo.com
• Instagram: @nicola.lambo
• Facebook: NICOLA LAMBO

Image Credits

Andy Rooney
Kindred Spirit character illustration Lucas R @alukkart