Nicola Wood, Motivational Speaker | Wonderful Wig Co.
A cancer survivor, successful business owner, champion of multiple cancer charities and LGBTQ+ ally, Nicola has been telling her personal story at events as a motivational speaker for many years.
Available to book for events both locally and nationally, below you can find out more about how Nicola fought back from the devastation of being diagnosed with breast cancer at 36, and how that challenging time led to her founding the Wonderful Wig Company, through which she has helped more than 10,000 other women regain their confidence after losing their hair to cancer treatment.
Today, Nicola owns one of the most successful hair salons in the North East, a thriving ecommerce business offering wigs and expert advice, and has trained and qualified as a professional trichologist - which is an expert in hair loss and scalp issues. Nicola’s story, her efforts with charities including the Little Princess Trust, Stand Up To Cancer and the LGBTQ+ community lead to her represent the North East as an official baton bearer for the 16th official Queen’s Baton Relay in 2022. The Little Princess Trust has also recognised Nicola by awarding her the Gold Standard for Wig Fitters in recognition of her experience and expertise in helping the charity’s free wig provision service.
During the various lockdowns, Nicola played a pivotal role in delivering virtual wig fitting appointments for thousands of hair loss sufferers when salons were closed, and she also produced videos for the Little Princess Trust website to show young people how to fit and look after their wigs.
Nicola Wood is an award-winning motivational speaker and has featured in both local and national news, sharing her story as a cancer patient, frustrated by the lack of support particularly for women suffering from hair loss as a result of their treatment. Importantly, Nicola’s is the story of overcoming a diagnosis and using her experience to help thousands of others; while balancing maintaining her salon business, founding and establishing a brand new business and supporting charities she cares deeply about.
Get in touch today to book Nicola Wood as your inspirational or motivational speaker. Call 0191 232 9432 or email info@wonderfulwigs.co.uk.
Watch Nicola Wood’s Story:
You can watch Nicola Wood tell her story in the video below.
Book Nicola Wood, Motivational Speaker
Get in touch today to book Nicola Wood as your inspirational or motivational speaker. Call 0191 232 9432 or email info@wonderfulwigs.co.uk.
Nicola Wood’s Story:
When you’re diagnosed with cancer, you lose your ability to think of the future. Frozen by your diagnosis, and often losing your job and work alongside your diagnosis, can mean you lose your sense of self. On top of that, particularly as a woman, you also lose your hair during your treatment. It sounds like something that is trivial, but after asking the question ‘am I going to die’, I asked the question ‘am I going to lose my hair?’. For a lot of women, their hair is what makes them recognisable, and not having hair makes you recognisable to those you know and those you don’t know as a cancer patient - which can make you feel detached from the person that you were before your diagnosis.
The whole time I was undergoing cancer treatment I just thought ‘if I get through this, then I’m going to do something good, and I’m going to change something about the world’. It sounds something really cliche, but a cancer diagnosis and all of the treatment and hospital visits makes you want to do something good.
As a hairdresser, when I would be in treatment rooms I found I could immediately tell whether someone was wearing a good wig or a bad wig. And this isn’t related to people’s budgets, it’s just that they didn’t always know what to look out for when buying their wig, or how to style or care for it. After all, after living your entire life with your own hair, it’s not an experience many people at all have and so it’s only natural that they aren’t sure what to buy. So I decided that I wanted to help these women regain their confidence by educating them about wigs, what to look for, how to style them and how to feel comfortable in them - so that nobody can tell you’re wearing a wig at all.
I spent all of my time off going back and forth to London, training with salons and wig companies to gain the highest level of certification available known as ‘My New Hair Level 3’. My salon is one of just seven salons in the UK with this level of expertise. I learned how to style, cut and choose wigs for people losing their hair - and not just for cancer, but alopecia, dermatitis sufferers, transgender. I wanted people to feel that at my salon, people would know they can come here and be looked after in a safe and discreet way. At any time, people can come to us and feel included, and through my salon Kitui and the Wonderful Wig Company we’ve helped more than 10,000 people feel themselves again.
One of my proudest moments was being declared an approved NHS wig supplier, meaning we can also help the most vulnerable people across the country. Alongside this, I support a number of charities including The Little Princess Trust and Stand Up To Cancer to keep helping as many people undergoing treatment and suffering from hair loss as possible.