Nicole Dy­er Grif­fith is no stranger to rein­ven­tion. From her ear­ly ca­reer as a reg­is­tered nurse to her work as a cor­po­rate com­mu­ni­ca­tions ex­ec­u­tive, from serv­ing in the Sen­ate to lead­ing her non-prof­it, the Oxy­gen with Nicole Foun­da­tion, she has built a life of im­pact across mul­ti­ple spheres. A for­mer Miss Uni­verse T&T, she has car­ried her na­tion’s flag on the world stage while work­ing qui­et­ly at home to cham­pi­on health aware­ness, women’s em­pow­er­ment, and cul­tur­al pride.

In re­cent years, her jour­ney has tak­en on even deep­er mean­ing. Con­fronting—and coura­geous­ly shar­ing—her bat­tle with stage-three breast can­cer and lat­er brain metas­ta­sis, Nicole has emerged as a bea­con of re­silience, re­mind­ing T&T, and in­deed the world, of the pow­er of faith, grit, and rad­i­cal hope.

As she re­ceives the Bea­con Award for Trans­for­ma­tion­al Heal­ing and Ad­vo­ca­cy at this year’s Re­pub­lic Day cel­e­bra­tion in New York City, Nicole sat down with us to re­flect on her life’s work, her per­son­al bat­tles, and her vi­sion for heal­ing, ser­vice, and the fu­ture.

Q: How do you feel about be­ing cho­sen as a re­cip­i­ent of the Bea­con Award?

A: I am deeply ho­n­oured to re­ceive this recog­ni­tion. My in­stinct is al­ways to ap­proach chal­lenges like a process—iden­ti­fy the is­sue, build the vil­lage to walk with me, and lean in­to col­lec­tive strength. This can­cer jour­ney was no dif­fer­ent.

I did not walk this jour­ney alone; Trinidad and To­ba­go walked with me every step of the way.

I have al­ways felt like a true daugh­ter of this na­tion—em­braced, loved, and some­times even scold­ed, just like any child by their par­ent.

So, while this award bears my name, I ac­cept it on be­half of my peo­ple. It rep­re­sents what we can achieve when we unite for a greater good.

Q: How did your di­ag­no­sis change your life?

A: When I was first di­ag­nosed with breast can­cer, I thought noth­ing had changed. I told some­one, “I’m still me.” But then came brain can­cer—and that was the true wake-up call.

This jour­ney has giv­en me joy and pain, strength and strug­gle, but most of all, clar­i­ty of pur­pose. And that pur­pose is sim­ple: to re­mind peo­ple to have faith, to be kind, and to know that God is re­al.

Yes, my life has changed dras­ti­cal­ly, but it has changed for the bet­ter. God is great.

Q: You re­cent­ly launched The Heal­ing Hub. What in­spired it, and what do you hope to achieve?

A: The Heal­ing Hub came out of a sim­ple need: peo­ple were reach­ing out to me in so many spaces, and I want­ed one safe place where mean­ing­ful con­nec­tions could hap­pen. With my fam­i­ly’s bless­ing, I launched the group on What­sApp in Au­gust 2025.

Some­times, all some­one needs is a kind word, a hand to hold. For some, that doesn’t ex­ist. That’s why I cre­at­ed the Heal­ing Hub.

The mis­sion is to pro­vide a se­cure dig­i­tal space for re­spect­ful, up­lift­ing con­ver­sa­tions around can­cer care and well­ness. Al­ready, I’ve seen beau­ti­ful mo­ments—like a so­cial work­er step­ping in to of­fer sup­port ex­act­ly when some­one need­ed it.

In the long term, I en­vi­sion The Heal­ing Hub grow­ing in­to a full-scale Pa­tient Ad­vo­ca­cy and Nav­i­ga­tion Cen­tre. It feels like a full-cir­cle mo­ment—back in the health­care space where I be­gan my ca­reer.

God has placed me right back in the health­care sys­tem—al­most a full-cir­cle mo­ment.

This is a free ser­vice, and it will take time, re­sources, and plan­ning. But I be­lieve it’s where God is lead­ing me, and I feel tremen­dous­ly blessed to be able to an­swer that call.

Ad­vo­ca­cy in Ac­tion (Put in box)

Health Aware­ness

Founder of the Oxy­gen with Nicole Foun­da­tion, ded­i­cat­ed to can­cer aware­ness, pre­ven­tion, and pa­tient sup­port.

Launched The Heal­ing Hub (2025), a safe dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ty for can­cer sur­vivors, pa­tients, care­givers, and pro­fes­sion­als.

Women’s Em­pow­er­ment

Vo­cal ad­vo­cate for women’s lead­er­ship and rep­re­sen­ta­tion in pub­lic life.

Men­tors young women in per­son­al de­vel­op­ment, con­fi­dence-build­ing, and ca­reer growth.

Cul­ture & Na­tion­hood

Pro­motes na­tion­al pride and cul­tur­al iden­ti­ty, of­ten link­ing ad­vo­ca­cy with her­itage and com­mu­ni­ty ser­vice.

As a for­mer Miss Uni­verse T&T, con­tin­ues to use her plat­form to spot­light pos­i­tive sto­ries about Trinidad and To­ba­go.

Pub­lic Ser­vice

For­mer Sen­a­tor and Gov­ern­ment rep­re­sen­ta­tive, where she cham­pi­oned com­mu­ni­ty-build­ing ini­tia­tives.

Fo­cus­es on pol­i­cy dis­cus­sions around health eq­ui­ty and gen­der is­sues.