Rebecca Nicol (she/her) is a well-known ally to the LGBTQ2S community in the Comox Valley.
From personal care with her clients, to helping organize inclusive events, Nicol is always there for everyone.
During her time at Foxy Box in Courtenay, Rebecca spearheaded a company-wide policy change for the business to become inclusive and gender-neutral.
“That was about a two-and-a-half-year process,” she said. “A lot of my clients were transitioning and to me, it is an important thing to have a safe space, where it is judgment-free - where someone can be treated like a human being.”
Nicol credits her inclusive character to having grown up in North Vancouver.
“To me, community inclusiveness has never been an issue, because I spent my formative years in Vancouver, where it is highly celebrated. I moved back to the Island five years ago, and to see how small and not to be insulting, but narrow-minded, people are in smaller communities like this was surprising.
“In Vancouver, it was just the norm. Everybody was just allowed to feel good. Everybody was allowed to feel like they belonged. No one was an outcast. And here; where do those people go? I don’t like it when people are bullied. I don’t feel that people should be bullied. I feel that someone should always have an advocate for them if they are not in a position to speak for themselves.”
Nicol not only spread that message at Foxy Box, but also within the community, helping with Pride events, sponsoring shows, and “helping get the word out there and making it something that is more the norm.
“I think at the end of the day, everyone wants to feel like they belong, and we are all human beings. We all deserve the same kind of love. It doesn’t matter if you are gay, straight, male, female, cisgender, trans, white, Black - it doesn’t matter what you are on the outside; we are all people on the inside, and we all want to be loved.”
Nicol has been previously recognized for her work in the community with the Comox Valley Chamber of Commerce Diversity and Inclusion Award.
Now she has been recognized again, as the Comox Valley’s Diversity and Inclusion Local Hero.