The Purpose Finders “Living the Dash Award” (TM) is awarded annually to an African American who is blazing a trail in his or her respective field, company, career, or industry. It is reserved, not for those who are rich, famous, or even infamous, but rather for those who are excelling in their everyday lives as if they were superstars on the field, or on the court! Those tangible citizens who are walking in their divine purpose daily!
Nicole Love Hendrickson – Bio
Nicole Love Hendrickson was elected chairwoman of the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners in 2020, making her the first African American to hold this position in the history of Gwinnett County.
As the Commission Chair, she leads the Board in setting the direction and formulating policies for County government, overseeing the creation and adoption of the County’s budget, more than $2 billion and ensuring Gwinnett’s superior services reach all its nearly 1 million residents with the standard and quality they have come to expect.
She graduated from the University of Rhode Island with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and earned a Master of Social Work from the University of Georgia. She is happily married and has one son.
Chairwoman Hendrickson is a 2010 graduate of Leadership Gwinnett, a 2016 graduate of the ARC’s Regional Leadership Institute, and a 2016 graduate of the Georgia Hispanic Chamber’s Cultivating Hispanic Leaders Institute.
She has been recognized as one of Engineering Georgia’s 100 Most Influential Women in Georgia and Atlanta Business Chronicle’s Power 100: Most Influential Atlantans. She was the recipient of Congressman Hank Johnson’s Trailblazer Award and the Gwinnett Chamber Public Service Award. In 2018, Georgia Trend named her one of the state’s top 40 under 40.
Since taking office, Chairwoman Hendrickson led Gwinnett County’s efforts in combating COVID-19, rolling out comprehensive vaccination efforts and overseeing more than $180 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds. Under her leadership, Gwinnett opened the first COVID-19 mass vaccination site in the state in partnership with GNR Health Department, which resulted in Gwinnett County being one of the leading counties in Georgia for vaccination rates. She also helped launch Project RESET 2.0, providing more than 6,000 struggling households impacted by COVID-19 with emergency rental and utility assistance.
Chairwoman Hendrickson was instrumental in rewriting Gwinnett County’s vision, mission, and values statements to emphasize the principles of accountability, transparency, equity, inclusivity, and innovation. She continues to lead in the development of Gwinnett’s unprecedented Equity Action Plan and the Gwinnett Place Mall Equitable Redevelopment Plan, which both serve as guiding principles for ensuring investments and service delivery center the voices of the community.
Chairwoman Hendrickson oversaw the investment and launch of the Gwinnett Entrepreneur Center as well as the initiation and expansion of the Police Mental Health Collaboration pilot program, both of which have expanded since their launch.
Prior to being elected Chairwoman, she served as Gwinnett’s first Community Outreach Director. During her tenure in Community Outreach, Chairwoman Hendrickson championed Gwinnett’s multicultural outreach efforts and launched several community-based initiatives, including the Gwinnett 101 Citizens Academy and the Gwinnett Youth Commission.
Growing up
Hendrickson grew up poverty-stricken. Her family never owned a home, often seeking refuge in apartments or with other family members. At one point, they lived in a shelter.
Alongside displacement, Hendrickson and her siblings had also endured the effects of belonging to a single-parent household as well as suffering food insecurity, substance abuse, neglect, and abandonment.
Social workers, counselors and case managers were a normal part of the domestic backdrop, almost a second extended family to them. “If it weren’t for them,” says Hendrickson, “I don’t believe I would have seen a way out.”
When Hendrickson’s mother was 18, she married Hendrickson’s father, who was in the military and spent much of his time overseas. Shortly after the second set of twins made their appearance, her parents split, leaving her mom to raise four children on her own.
In their case, Hendrickson and her siblings were fortunate enough to have the proverbial village to care for them, materializing in the form of aunts and a maternal grandmother, who played an integral role in supporting and shaping them into strong individuals grounded in faith.
“My grandmother taught me a lot of life lessons that I still hold dear to me today,” says Hendrickson. “She would always say, ‘you have to have faith and believe that God has a plan for you. You will go far in life.’ She also never let me forget the value of family: we may not get to choose our family, but we should always stick together no matter what.”
The Living The Dash Award
