If pain is indeed inspiration for art, then poet, health advocate, and educator Nikki Napoleon’s first few decades were not short of material. From the layers of trauma in her home - heartbreakingly brushed off as “just learned behavior” by relatives who could have intervened - to losing some of her beloved siblings, Nikki could have drowned in a reservoir of pain. But “Earth Angels” like her maternal grandmother turned her on to reading books and writing poetry, in which she found healing and self-expression. Through that creativity and curiosity, and other therapies that are important to her, Nikki has created a thriving life for herself and her children, despite the scars of her life’s early storms.