Nicola Nice in the orangerie

My Story

I have been advising alcohol and consumer companies on how to connect with their audiences for more than 20 years.

I started out my career in market research after achieving advanced degrees in social science from Oxford University and Imperial College London. In 2007, I swapped my native London for New York City to pursue my professional dreams and launch the insights, strategy, and innovation agency, THINK Conservatory Inc. 

Enthralled by the hospitality of my new home, I soon found myself also falling in love with its cocktail culture. I saw an opportunity for a new style of gin that would celebrate the feminine roots of the spirit while paying tribute to the role that women have played in its history. In 2017, I launched the award-winning gin brand, Pomp & Whimsy, serving as its Founder and CEO.

During this time, I also set out on a personal journey to re-tell the story of women and the cocktail. After many years collecting and researching women-authored cocktail books, I wrote my first book on the social history of the cocktail - The Cocktail Parlor: How women brought the cocktail home - published by Countryman Press (a division of W. W. Norton).

My work bringing women to the forefront of cocktails has been profiled by the likes of Vogue and the New York Times. In 2019, Forbes named me as one of the top women running the liquor world, and in 2022 I was named as a Future 40 leader of the industry by Wine Enthusiast. Today, I am as passionate as ever about re-writing the stories of women through my writing, consulting, and speaking endeavors.