Welcome to Kickin’ It in the Kitchen, a miniseries by the Catalyze podcast that showcases Morehead-Cain seniors. The first episode features Nigel Parker ’25, a founding member of the Food for Thought breakfast and conversation series, the chief of staff for UNC Student Government, an Agora Fellow, and a philosophy major at Carolina. The video series is hosted by Allyson Horst ’27 of the Morehead-Cain Scholar Media Team.
Listen to the episode. Watch the episode on YouTube.
Music credits
The episode’s intro song is by scholar Scott Hallyburton ’22, guitarist of the band South of the Soul.
How to listen
On your mobile device, you can listen and subscribe to Catalyze on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For any other podcast app, you can find the show using our RSS feed. You can let us know what you thought of the episode by finding us on social media @moreheadcain or you can email us at communications@moreheadcain.org.
Episode Transcription
(Allyson)
Welcome to Kickin’ It in the Kitchen by the Catalyze podcast. I’m your host, Allyson Horst ’28. I’m joined today in Morehead-Cain’s Scholar Kitchen by Nigel Parker ’25 for the first edition of our video series showcasing seniors. Welcome, Nigel. Thank you so much for coming in today.
(Nigel)
Thank you.
(Allyson)
How are you doing today after our Food for Thought?
(Nigel)
I’m doing really well. It’s been a busy day, busy week, busy semester, but I’m doing well.
(Allyson)
Yeah, and you’re obviously a senior. That’s why you’re here today. Do you have any bucket list items before you graduate this spring?
(Nigel)
Bucket list items? I really want to actually go to the Planetarium. I’ve never been to that side of the building. I actually want to see what’s going on over there. That’s definitely been on my list all year.
(Allyson)
I recently went. I was just in the cubicle area. It was so fancy. I was just walking through the hallways, and it was a whole new world.
(Nigel)
I’ve never been in the building.
(Allyson)
Can you go for free? I don’t even know. I think so. Well, we’ve got to check that out because I want to go, too. Just let me know when you’re going at this point. But tell me a little bit more about your Morehead-Cain journey. Take me back to when you were a senior in high school, and you first heard about the Morehead-Cain.
(Nigel)
Yeah, senior-year-Nigel, in the midst of COVID-19, sitting at home, getting ready for college applications. I have two older brothers, so they had been through the process, but it was my turn. When I found out that I was nominated, I really didn’t know anything about the scholarship, the Program, or even Carolina as a school to go to. I knew Carolina basketball, but I didn’t really know or consider UNC as a school that was on my list until I was nominated. And I went through the process and ended up in Finalist Weekend. And mine was virtual but was still just a really impactful experience to almost compete, but be in that space, trying to make it to the next level of my education with students who were at the top of their respective schools. And learning about all of those people, learning about what the Program actually has to offer, and speaking with a lot of alumni in my area and a lot of other current scholars at the time was just really eye-opening and was ultimately a no-brainer for me. I had other opportunities to take, and my parents weighed in a good bit as well. But I think just between the financial opportunity and then the community that you build and the kinds of experiences that you’re able to have, it was a no-brainer for me. I ended up coming here and loving it.
(Allyson)
Yeah, that’s amazing. Wait, so who nominated you? How did you hear about this?
(Nigel)
Yeah, so I went to an all-boys private school called Gilman in Baltimore, Maryland. And my college adviser was the one who notified me that the school nominated me for the program. I believe they nominated me and maybe one or two others. I’m not exactly sure. But they told me about the program, told me that it was a really great opportunity. There was a senior who was a mentor to me when I was a freshman in high school who was a finalist. He didn’t actually get the scholarship; he was a finalist. And I remember speaking to him about it as well and learning about all the things that he went through when he was a finalist and his Finalist Weekend and all that. So it was really through my college advisor where I learned about it and took off from there.
(Allyson)
Yeah, that’s amazing. How was his experience and advice compared to what you actually went through? Because I’m assuming he did in-person [Finalist Weekend] before COVID.
(Nigel)
Yeah, he had an in-person finalist experience, and most of his advice was around interviewing, and that was the most nerve-wracking part of it, especially because he had in-person interviews. It was a little bit different because for my interview, I was in my room, on Zoom with a panel of, I think, maybe four or five people. It didn’t exactly match up one-to-one, but his excitement, and he was really impressed by the program and really wanted it. He ended up doing great things and went to UPenn and is in a great place now, but he really spoke very highly of the program and his experience as a finalist. And he was also, as I said, my mentor in high school, but was also a captain of the track team and student bodypresident, all these things. So, he was someone I really looked up to. And so, his recommendation that I really take it seriously and try to go for it was huge for me at the time.
(Allyson)
Yeah, that’s amazing. And so, I know I did mine virtually. Were you able to come on campus before you came to school, or how was that situation?
(Nigel)
Yeah, so I did not step foot on campus until after I knew that I had gotten the scholarship. It was in April or May, I want to say, when I finally got it, and my parents wanted me to actually see the campus before making that final decision. And so, we came down, and I’ll never forget, it was an amazing time because there was nobody on campus. It was really odd to be here. But my host, Simon Palmore, was here, and he took me on a bit of a tour around campus, and it was great. And we came by the Foundation as well. And David Greer and Ann Smith were here, and they greeted us. And it was just a really special opportunity. It was a very unique one-on-one time that we got with some of the Foundation staff because no one was here. It was all social distancing, and everyone was in their respective areas. But, yeah, I didn’t actually end up coming to campus until after I knew that I had the scholarship.
(Allyson)
Yeah. And how was that shift when you got to campus? Because you’re out-of-state, and that’s hard.
(Nigel)
Yeah, it was hard. And I remember at the time thinking about coming to the South. I had lived in San Antonio, Texas, for a little bit before high school in elementary school. So, I had a little bit of experience with the South, but nothing that I could really relate to and no family in North Carolina or anything like that. And so, it was an adjustment, for sure. But I think the connections that I was able to make during my virtual Finalist Weekend really pulled me through. My freshman year, five out of the eight guys that I lived with in E-House were all Morehead guys in my class. And so that really was a huge part of my integration into the Carolina community and just feeling more comfortable coming in freshman year. I know a lot of other out-of-state students don’t necessarily have that community to lean on. And so, it was really great for me to have that and to really have a group of people that I could go to for questions about which building is where and where are the good places to eat and things like that. I could lean on the people that were from here, but also my host and other upperclassmen that had poured into me in the whole finalist process.
(Allyson)
Wait, so when you got to campus, were you all wearing masks? That was 2021, right?
(Nigel)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Masks were required, I want to say, for the first semester. And I think the second semester, they were optional. But I remember actually the second semester was when I got COVID, that was the first time. And it was not a great time. But, yeah, freshman year was fully… everyone was masked in classes. It feels so distant now, but, yeah, that was a huge part of freshman year.
(Allyson)
How was that, joining clubs and stuff? I feel like you’re just so separated from the whole community.
(Nigel)
Yeah, I want to say that there weren’t really that many big gatherings. Organizations weren’t doing any huge public events. And obviously, at the time, everyone was very comfortable with Zoom, that format. So, some of the things that I was a part of freshman year were all virtual really. Even though we were in the same physical location spread across campus, it was mostly on Zoom, which was interesting. I think, as I said, people were comfortable with it at that time, but it was also quite meaningful to increase the accessibility of the different kinds of people you’re able to meet. So, for example, there was a program called Real Talk for Black men, and it was a group to meet twice a month to talk about your mental health and really was a huge part of me acclimating to Carolina and getting to know some of the guys here. But then once things started getting more relaxed with COVID restrictions, we had in-person meetings as well. And so that was just a great part of my freshman year, where a lot of those guys I didn’t actually see in person too often because things were on Zoom, and everyone was comfortable with that, it was still a really impactful part of my freshman year.
(Allyson)
I love that. And I know you were an Agora fellow. It’s really funny because I’m one now. And I remember looking back on the website, I was like, “Okay, Nigel.” I just saw you immediately. And I always thought that was so cool. But tell me a little bit about the Agora Fellowship and why you joined?
(Nigel)
Sure. The Agora Fellowship was my junior year when I did that. So, it was a little bit forward in the college process. But I believe I was in the second or third cohort of Agora Fellows. It is a program through the Program for Public Discourse. And we essentially learn how to facilitate conversation, civic dialogue. Or it goes by a bunch of different names. But we learn ways to foster conversations among students. And it’s typically around issues that are maybe more controversial or difficult to have conversations about. But in my experience, it was really an opportunity to practice that skill. I don’t think that people think about facilitating dialogue or having a conversation as something to practice just because we do it naturally all the time. But this was an opportunity to be really intentional about how we are constructing conversations on campus. What are the goals and aspirations that we have with those conversations? What are the most equitable ways to do that? How can we actually bring people into conversations that are more difficult? But again, just exercising that skill of how to have a real productive conversation. That’s what drew me to the Agora Fellowship. And I think it was a great opportunity when I was in the cohort to, at the very least, meet new people and have a really interesting conversation about their worldview.
(Allyson)
And also to put you on the spot, do you remember your favorite conversation or most impactful conversation in the Fellowship?
(Nigel)
I’m not sure I remember one in particular, but there were certainly opportunities to take what we learned and share that with the community. So, I remember we had a conversation about either diversity or affirmative action, something along those lines, and we invited the campus, so we invited students to come participate. And I was facilitating one of those conversations, and it was just a great dialogue with a bunch of different people from different parts of campus. And I remember it was outside of Phillips [Hall]. We set up chairs outside that area of campus. And it was really rewarding because it was a time to take what we had been learning. And you know Kevin Marinelli, the director of the program, had been pouring into us and emphasizing all these different things for so long. And so, we finally got to put it into practice. And so that was a great opportunity for me. And it motivated me to try to do more of that, to take the things that we were learning and apply that to not only structured conversations like that, but every aspect of the other things that I was involved in.
(Allyson)
I feel like one word, in my perception of you, one word to describe, actually two words, is public discourse. I feel like everything you do is somehow revolving around public discourse in a way, in the best way possible. Food for Thought, which is an initiative you created as a sophomore from your Civic Collaboration summer, that is hosted every Friday and brings in speakers. Tell me more about that. I’m on the new Food for Thought team, and I’m always astonished by the original team.
(Nigel)
Yeah, I know. And you all are killing it. I’m glad that you all can carry the torch. But yeah, as you said, this was an idea we had. Tucker Stoneman actually was who really spearheaded the idea and wanted the Cleveland team to be the team that brought this to life. So, the original group was Tucker, me, Kate Quadland, and Kendall Lee. And we just worked so well together before in our Civic Collaboration in Cleveland and wanted to continue that and to bring back some of the things that we had learned there and brought the model to the [Food for Thought] program. I was actually abroad when they were first pitching the idea to Chris and others in the Foundation. But when I came back in the second semester of my sophomore year was when we first had our first couple of speakers. And it was, I think, a hit from the beginning.
We tried to get as many different kinds of speakers to touch on a lot of different kinds of topics. And sometimes they’re more political, sometimes they’re more educational, sometimes they’re more about the arts or sports. But I’ll never forget our first speaker, Dr. Hickox, he’s an astrophysicist who specializes in black holes. And it was a topic that I had just never even considered. I’m not in STEM at all, and so, it was really outside of my area of expertise. But it really, I think, encapsulated what it was all about, where we had a real expert in the field come and provide a really interesting take on modern science and space exploration and what it takes to do that and his academic perspective on that. And then being able to ask that person any question you want is the idea behind Food for Thought. I’ve been really proud of the work we’ve been able to do and carry it on. And I’m really glad that y’all are continuing it.
(Allyson)
I genuinely did not know how much went into it. It’s insane. Setting out all the tables, doing the silverware, literally catering essentially, and then recruiting the speaker, and then making sure their accommodations are all good. It’s a lot. How did you balance, I guess this is just me asking on a personal level, how did you balance all of that?
(Nigel)
No, it is a lot. I think it really, why it worked was in large part because our team was really close to begin with. From the beginning, we didn’t know each other going into Civic Collaboration. I think we had talked before and met each other and been in some of the similar circles but not on that level. We had not worked together in that way. And so, because we knew we worked so well together over the summer, we were able to apply that same dynamic to Food for Thought. And I think it worked quite well. Everyone took on different roles quite naturally, I think. I don’t really think that there was a point where in the group there was one real leader that was directing everybody. We all worked quite collaboratively to come up with the concept and to adapt it to the Foundation and to bring it to life. I think it just was a product of how well we work together.
(Allyson)
It’s seriously so amazing how student-led it is. I think that’s so phenomenal about Food for Thought. And I’m just so happy to be part of the new team coming in. I don’t know, even hosting it today, very stressful, at the same time, it’s so rewarding to have all those little skills, like I know where to put a fork on the table and things like that. But speaking of student roles, tell me about your work in student government. Actually, first, what does student government do?
(Nigel)
Great, great question. My introduction to student government was my junior year. So, I guess in the life of someone who’s in student government, I was a little bit late to the program there. But I started off as a Deputy Chief of Staff. And the roles, there are a lot of different roles, and there are a lot of different offices and departments and things. It can get a little bit confusing. But I’ll say when it comes down to it, the description of what student government does is really to represent and advocate for the student body. And that is easier said than done for sure. Because we’re on a campus with 32,000 students. The executive branch is really focused on undergraduates, and the graduate students have their own form of student government. But in my role now as the Chief of Staff, so I took one step up from last year, I work very closely with the Student Body President who represents all 32,000 students. And so, we have to take all of those experiences and concerns and opinions and translate that or massage that into something that administrators and faculty members and staff will understand and resonate with and apply.
And again, easier said than done, especially on a campus with a massive campus of students, but also so many different departments and so many different administrators with different personalities and different interests. And so, there’s a lot of different ways that we do that work. There’s the cabinet that I run, a secondary title for Chief of Staff is Chief of the Cabinet now, which is made up of seven different departments led by different students that focus on different areas of campus, if it’s DEI or environmental affairs or academic affairs or civic engagement, there’s something for everything. And that is our most diverse group within the executive branch. But then there’s the Student Senate as well. They’re the ones that allocate funding to all the different student organizations. And then there’s the executive council offices. So, my office, the Office of the Chief of Staff. But then there’s the President’s office, the Vice President’s office. You can get granular with it. There are over 100 people that are involved in student government. But it’s this big group of people who are really focused on and passionate about representing the best interests of students. And so, we try to do that to the best of our ability.
(Allyson)
Yeah, that’s amazing. There’s the student body president election going on right now. And you’re seeing the posts everywhere. But it’s like, what does the student body president even do? And that was always a question. But I don’t know. I know you all do stuff, but now you’re explaining it fully. I get it now.
(Nigel)
Yeah, and I should add, the role of the student body president is unique. I mean, they sit on the Board of Trustees. And so that is the ultimate advocacy role of a student. And then the rest of the executive branch is really focused on implementing the policy that they run on and then the programming that complements that policy. So, for example, something that the current student body president, Jaleah Taylor, ran on was a huge Get Out the Vote campaign because we knew that we were going to be in an election year. And so, the Department of Civic Engagement Outreach Services, run by Nick [Hamilton] and Zoe [Sinclair], who are students on campus right now, really took that on and put out what I thought was a really great effort. It was a campus-wide effort and partnered with a lot of different organizations and different parts of student government, as well, but she really took that aspect of her platform and brought it to life in a way that I was really proud of. And so that’s just one example of the kinds of things that we do.
(Allyson)
I just saw another initiative. Was it… It’s like the dining hall swipes?
(Nigel)
Yeah, that’s right. It’s another huge one for the executive branch and something that Julia ran on. She’s been working, really since she ran last year, to get this program here at Carolina. It’s a program that we’ve seen at other campuses in the UNC system, where you can donate meal swipes to students in need, trying to really get at the problem of food insecurity on campus, especially in places like South campus, where there are limited options for food. And part of the effort to get that program started was to provide the evidence [of need] to the Board of Trustees. And the way that she did that was a campus-wide effort to get first-hand feedback on how students are experiencing food security and what that actually means for their day-to-day life, and how a program like this would actually help that aspect of their student experience. And huge win, I think, for student government and for Jaleah. She’s put so much time and effort into bringing that to life. And I think it’s just a testament to the work that we’re really trying to strive to do and the impact we’re trying to have. And ultimately, she’s a senior, I’m a senior. It’s something great that I think we can leave the university with.
(Allyson)
And you were talking about DEI earlier. So how is that change with policies and so forth coming down from both UNC administration as well as Washington?
(Nigel)
Yeah. Well, now things are changing on a national level. I think we’ve seen the trend against DEI in a lot of different states, but now it’s a coordinated national effort, considering the executive orders that have been passed. Prior to that, though, as you know, in the summer, the UNC system repealed and replaced their DEI policy. And so that certainly meant changes on the administrative level. But very specifically in the new policy, student organizations are exempt from that repeal. And so, we were able to still have a Department of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, which was central to Jaleah’s campaign. And it is difficult, I’m sure, as you can imagine, when you run on something that is so core to your campaign and core to your values, and then the university goes in a complete opposite way. And so, it’s been a challenge for sure to deal with that and try to find ways to still bring the essence of what the words actually mean, diversity and equity and inclusion, separate that from how politicized it has become and really bring the substance.
But one thing that I’m proud of in terms of the transition in policy that the DEI Department put on was a Q&A with our former Chief Diversity Officer, Leah Cox. She came and did a town hall, and it was great turnout with students who were troubled by the change, really wanting to get some answers for what a Carolina without DEI would look like. And I thought it was a great opportunity for them to learn more about, I guess, the specifics of what that policy change means. And hopefully, we can do something similar now that this executive order has passed, and now we’ve gotten the memo from the Board of Governors as well to now make DEI-focused classes not required for your gen eds or for your major. So, there’s a lot of change. I think this student government administration has seen a lot of change at Carolina. Thinking about things like major protests on campus but also doing away with the student honor court system. There’s been a lot of different major shifts in Carolina culture and the structure of Carolina that we’ve had to deal with. But like I said, we do it to the best of our ability.
(Allyson)
Yeah. And speaking of advocacy, what is your take on protests in general? What do you think? You’re all about public discourse. At least to me, what do you think is the best way to go about advocating or speaking upon a problem or issue or so forth?
(Nigel)
Yeah, this is an issue that I think about a lot, especially as an Agora fellow, and especially considering the development of the new School for Civic Life and Leadership, which is all about civic discourse. Well, I guess a short story. I did a Lovelace Fund for Discovery with my good friend, Willow, who also actually happened to do my Outward Bound with me before I came to Carolina. But she was an Agora Fellow as well. And we were both really trying to get at the idea of what is civic discourse? Why is it something that is so valuable? And so, we did a tour last spring break of three different universities. We were at Princeton, Arizona State University, and Stanford, looking at their equivalents to the School for Civic Life and Leadership, with the goal of coming back with some key reflections on what that looks like on campus and how that’s been implemented in other universities.
And I think my big takeaway from that experience and from all my experience with the Agora Fellowship and the Program for Public Discourse is a real sense that civic discourse, what is viewed as a civic discourse and described as civic discourse, cannot be juxtaposed with protest, with activism. I think that it’s a mistake for us to set those two things as a binary choice that we have to make as an institution, as an individual. I think they quite seriously go hand-in-hand when trying to create change. I have good relationships with people who protest far more than I do. I also have good relationships with people who think that protest is not effective or not the way to create change. I fall somewhere in between, where I think they both have to happen at the same time. Some people are more inclined to protest and have a more activist calling, which I think is great, and I think is an essential part of change at Carolina and has been for decades. And some people are more inclined to articulate their ideas in a way that is more acknowledged by an institution, more institutionally supported. And I think over the past year, we’ve had such major protests that have mirrored past movements. And it’s been really inspiring to see. It’s been really great to have. Sometimes if you want to have discourse, you’ve got to have something to talk about. And so, the protest, in some ways, gives you the thing to talk about. It draws the attention. It is the thing that puts a spotlight on an issue. And I think that the civic discourse can pair with that so well when it is done thoughtfully and with consideration to the issues.
I think a mistake that we’ve made at Carolina is sometimes focusing too much on the way in which people talk about an issue or the way in which people try to get change and less about the actual content, the actual issue at hand. And so, I’ve been going back and forth with a lot of my friends and administrators and colleagues in student government about how to mesh those two things and do both in a way that is effective, because I do think real change doesn’t come with just one or the other.
(Allyson)
I love that. I feel like I just got so many power quotes just from listening to you. That’s amazing. And you’re a philosophy major, or you’re in that realm?
(Nigel)
I am a PPE minor, so I take some philosophy classes. But my major is Management and Society through the Sociology Department. So, I started off in Sociology and transitioned to Management and Society, I think in my sophomore year. But then I’m also a history minor.
(Allyson)
Oh, that’s so cool. I didn’t know that. Because I feel like I don’t know. I saw that you had done a philosophy talk sponsored by the philosophy department. And I think it was civic discourse.
(Nigel)
It was civic discourse related. It was like that. My junior year, most of my life was civic discourse. So, this was a fellowship called the Balter Fellowship, through the Philosophy Department, where they invite students to explore. They fund you as well to explore a philosophical question, trying to encourage diversity within the different things that we are pursuing in philosophy. And my idea was to examine the morality of civic discourse, which is an ambiguous topic, but really thinking about when we are advocating for civic discourse, who does that burden fall on when we want students to engage with people with differing opinions or people from the other side of an issue. Really trying to get at what is the power imbalance that that might create? What role does emotion have in civic discourse? How does, as I was saying earlier, civic discourse juxtapose with protests and other forms of civic expression? So that was a great opportunity. That was honestly one of the things I’m more proud of in my time at Carolina. I gave a lecture, and that was the culminating project of that fellowship. But it was great. Kevin Marinelli came, and some other Agora Fellows came to support me. And we had a really great conversation about what it means to do civic discourse well.
(Allyson)
Yeah. I think it’s so funny because I had told you this earlier, but somebody had mentioned in the Agora meeting your exact talk, and it was a year ago. So that just shows how profound it was to at least one person. I think that just shows how impactful that was. And he was genuinely so passionate. He was really excited. He name-dropped you. And I was like, “I know Nigel.”
(Nigel)
That’s really great. That is heartwarming.
(Allyson)
But tell me about your future plans. I know that’s a scary question.
(Nigel)
Yeah, it is a scary question. It’s a question that I’m sure seniors are tired of at this point, we hear a lot of that. But I think for me, I’ve really settled on the idea that public service is going to be the next step for me. I know, ultimately, I want to go back to school, either for law school or the public policy program or something of that nature. But at least right after Carolina, I want to go into public service and work for a year or two. This summer, I was an intern through the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation. So, I was working in Hakeem Jeffrey’s leadership office, which was just an amazing opportunity. It was something that, I got the internship quite late in the planning for the Professional Development Summer process, but I really, really loved my time there. I fell in love with D.C. as a city, but I also fell in love with Capitol Hill and the energy that was brought there, and the real sense that what you’re doing there is making a difference or it feels important, at least. And so, I know that D.C. is an option for me, hopefully trying to get back on Capitol Hill.
But as I said earlier, I’m from Maryland, and so working for a Maryland representative is really the goal. But still applying for things like government jobs is a little bit slow in relation to other jobs in other sectors. But I’m still applying for things and waiting for my time to come when I finally know what I’ll be doing.
(Allyson)
That’s so exciting. And to start closing our episode, I wanted to do a rapid-fire session. Happy Friday, okay. That was the surprise I had. I’m trying to remember the questions. I think the first one was what book are you currently reading or what book would you recommend people to read?
(Nigel)
Yeah, I have two books that I will say. One is a… it’s not actually a book. I think it was turned into a book, but it was a commencement speech by David Foster Wallace. And we read this speech in a philosophy class I had, I think my sophomore year, freshman year, maybe. But I’ve revisited it so many times, and it’s really shaped the way that I try to approach interacting with other people and going through my day-to-day life. It’s called This is Water. I highly recommend giving that a read, reading it yourself, but also listening to David Foster Wallace deliver the speech. Really great message that he has to give there. The second book is a book that was recommended to me. One of my friends who graduated last year was giving other people gifts as she was leaving, and so, she gave me this book called Babel. I think the secondary title is The Necessity for Violence or something along those lines. And I am blanking on the author of that book, but it is a really, really interesting book that is historical fiction that concerns protest and activism and revolution in a college setting. So, at the time that I was reading it over the summer, it resonated very much with some of the things that I was experiencing with protests on campus, but really just a thought-provoking and well-designed book. It’s quite long, but I really, really loved that book. It’s definitely one of my most recent favorites.
(Allyson)
That’s amazing. Okay, so the second question that we have is, what is the theme song of your life?
(Nigel)
The theme song of my life is really hard. I think it would have to be something Stevie Wonder, something off of Songs in the Key of Life. The whole album, maybe, I’ll say. I think one of the best albums ever created. And so it just has a really familiar feel to me. It reminds me of my family, reminds me of my roots and time with my family, which is really, for me, at the end of the day, all that really matters and what I always come back to. So Songs in the Key of Life, best album, I think.
(Allyson)
That’s amazing. Our third question, I’m trying to think. Do you remember? Who’s the most influential person in your life?
(Nigel)
Yeah, definitely my parents, definitely my parents. I feel like most people that we ask that question, that’s who it is. But they have just poured so much into me to be the person that I am today, instilled in me a sense of self-confidence and purpose and responsibility. Both of my parents really just poured so much into me. My mom actually homeschooled my brothers and me for elementary school. And so it literally was her job to educate us as we were younger. They’re just really great, great parts of my life that have always been there to support me.
(Allyson)
Yeah. Our last question is, what would you do with a billion dollars?
(Nigel)
With a billion dollars? That is a lot of money. I think I would certainly pour it into the education system, particularly the public education system in Baltimore. I was incredibly privileged to experience a private education in Baltimore city, technically, but not anywhere near the kind of Baltimore city that people imagine when you say that. And the public school system there is in such need. And ultimately, I think as I go into public service, education is at the core of some of the things that I’d like to try to make an impact on. So I definitely would pour the money into the public school system in Baltimore.
(Allyson)
Well, thank you, Nigel. That was amazing. It was great to have you on today. And with that, that concludes Kickin’ It in the Kitchen.
(Nigel)
That’s it.
(Allyson)
That was awesome. I feel like I learned so much about you.
