MomCrush Monday: Meet Helena Nicklin, an Award-Winning Wine & Spirits Writer, and Host of The Three Drinkers

Q1: You are an award-winning wine & spirits writer, host of the global Amazon Prime series, The Three Drinkers, and a mother. What keeps you up at night? What gets you out of bed in the morning? 

If we are to ignore ‘my young children shouting’ as an answer to both these questions, what motivates me to get out of bed is genuine desire to keep learning and keep playing, which having your own business allows you to do. I never have those Sunday blues; I can’t wait to get going. Lots of things keep me up at night, though. Often, it’s family issues to solve or a to-do list going round my head as well as planning out projects. Occasionally too, it’s anxiety – about being too ambitious, being too old to do new things and generally not being good enough. 

Q2: The alcohol industry has been dominated by men, and throughout your 20+ years in the space, you have fought your way to the top! A huge congrats to you! What motivated you to continue persevering through all the hardships and ridicule? Also, if you could share 2 motivating tips with our readers about what they could do should they encounter some push back along the way to achieve their dreams? 

Thank you very much! It has been quite the journey and as you have alluded to, there have been some uncomfortable times. The biggest thing that has kept me going was the sense that things were finally changing and as a veteran, I have a duty to younger women coming up to be their voice and help bring about the change. I have also held onto the gut feeling that my particular approach to wine communication, while a bit different, spoke to a new, much-needed, more diverse audience. I feel like I have lost some time as my confidence was shattered at least twice along the way and it took a while to build it back up. I know now though that I have come back much stronger for it. Here are two tips I would give other women: 

* Don’t feel you have to do things like everyone else. If you know how you would like to approach things and it’s a bit different, go for it. Your perfect audience will find you. 

* Use any criticism as a learning opportunity. If you realize you got something wrong, own it. Other times however, criticism can be a sign that you are making a difference and people are noticing you. There’s nothing like a successful woman doing things differently to put the backs up of the old duffers who are not your target audience anyway and who feel threatened by you. 

Q3: You are the host of the global Amazon Prime series, The Three Drinkers. Can you share 3 of YOUR favorite things about this series?

1) I love having the opportunity to put drinks in context. After all, we get much more enjoyment out of tasting something when we understand it a little better. 

2) Meeting the people behind the drinks, hearing their stories and learning about the history is a blast. We always discover something fascinating that we didn’t know before as it’s unscripted. 

3) It’s streaming 24/7 not just on Amazon, but on major airlines too! 

Q4: Being such an incredible mother and entrepreneur, what are three things you would like to share with EVERY mom or mom-to-be about how you can still achieve your PERSONAL goals while successfully managing your mom and home life? 

The juggle is real, I’m not going to lie. A big thing to remember is that they are not little for long, so don’t wish the time away. It goes quickly. 

The experience of being a mum is actually an excellent training ground for being an entrepreneur, so don’t feel like becoming a mother is holding you back. You may not realize at the time but you will emerge a more courageous, confident woman who doesn’t take any rubbish, is much more efficient with her time and knows what she wants. 

Create clear boundaries. Know exactly when it is working time and when it is family time and be strict with yourself about it. If everyone knows where they stand, you’ll avoid a lot of resentment from all sides, including your own. 

Q5: What is your favorite song lyric? Why? 

Oh gosh, I have many and they change all the time. Currently, I am loving The Struts song, “Could Have Been Me” with these lyrics below. It’s a brilliant, energetic song to start the day with and acts as a reminder to be fearless and to work hard. All the words are great, but the chorus really gets me: 

I wanna taste love and pain 

Wanna feel pride and shame 

I don’t wanna take my time 

Don’t wanna waste one line 

I wanna live better days 

Never look back and say 

Could have been me