About this episode

What happens when a sector becomes so good at its job that it makes itself invisible? In this episode, Annyse sits down with Nicole Brown, a nationally recognised water leader, equity champion, and founding Vice President of the Black Water Professionals Alliance, for a conversation that is equal parts practical and profound.

Nicole brings 27 years of experience in the water sector to a question that goes far deeper than infrastructure: how do we build a new story for water - one rooted in abundance, reverence, and belonging - and who gets to be part of telling it?

What we explore in this conversation

• Why Nicole chose curiosity as her word for right now and what it means to choose forward motion over steady state
• The water sector's "invisibility problem" — how decades of operational excellence have disconnected the public from the value, the wonder, and the careers behind their tap
• The scarcity mindset that runs through water conversations and why Nicole is intentionally refusing it
• Robin Wall Kimmerer's The Serviceberry and what an economy of gratitude, reciprocity, and community could look like in the water space
• What it means to be a steward of water and why abundance and reverence are more connected than we think
• The Black Water Professionals Alliance, the Fairmount Water Works, and the power of exposure in building the next generation of water professionals
• Why constructs don't need to be destroyed - they can be dissolved, and something better built in their place

A moment that stayed with us

"The water sector has done a great job at being invisible. We've been so good at what we do that we've made water seem like magic - and when something seems like magic, people stop asking how it works."

About Nicole Brown

Nicole Brown is the Area Growth Lead for the Water Sector at GFT, where she helps utilities align innovation with meaningful public engagement. She is the founding Vice President of the Black Water Professionals Alliance, a non-profit dedicated to workforce equity and community connection in the water industry. In 2024, she received the WEF Mentorship Award for her dedication to growing the next generation of water professionals.

Show notes 

• The Serviceberry – Robin Wall Kimmerer - Robin Wall Kimmerer
• Black Water Professional Alliance Philadelphia - Black Water Professionals Alliance - Home Page
• Philadelphia Fairmount Water Works - Fairmount Water Works – Discover. Connect. Act.
• Epigenetics - Epigenetic Inheritance of Trauma Across Generations: A Review of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Epigenetic Mechanisms, Challenges and Implications for Today’s World | OxJournal