Second Chances

Hill shared the stage with the late Biggie Smalls and co-wrote Tupac’s “Mamas Just a Little Girl” on the multi-platinum, Grammy-nominated album, Better Dayz. She sang on Jane’s Addiction “Superhero”, theme song for Entourage and has written TV campaigns for Target and Old Navy. She starred as Harper in the award winning indie film, In The Morning with legendary cinematographers Arthur Jafa, Bradford Young and Hans Charles and did a cameo in Sofia Ford Coppola’s film, On The Rocks starring Rashida Jones and Bill Murray. While she’s most recognizable as the original singer in The Black Eyed Peas, Hill broke records with her indie release Sugahill, crystalizing her sound in a movement she helped define.

In 2020, Hill turned her creative efforts towards textile and furniture design. Her bespoke macrame chair sculptures took off like wildfire and were in esteemed art exhibits, commissioned by multidisciplinary artists like Derrick Adams and basketball philanthropist Kyrie Irving. Hill’s designs have appeared in TMAG, NY Times, NBC, Fox 5, Elle and Allure Magazines; as well as in Sarah Jones’ film Sell Buy Date. In Spring 2023,  Hill’s sold out capsule furniture collection in Bloomingdale’s made her the first Black furniture designer to partner with the iconic retail store.

Hill resides in Newark NJ with her son Cassius, dogs Mars and Phife Dawg and 5 chickens. 

Praised by Piper Kerman, author of Orange Is the New Black, as a “must-read,” Breaking Good offers an evocative, unsanitized look at the systems people fall through and what it takes to rebuild a life.

Today, Nikki writes and speaks with honesty, humility, and a little humor, believing that healing happens by facing the past rather than outrunning it. She brings lived experience, hard-earned wisdom, and insight to audiences at universities, nonprofits, hospitals, and other organizations, speaking about addiction, trauma, recovery, accountability, and second chances. She also regularly appears on podcasts and at book clubs, where she talks about Breaking Good and the life behind it.

Nikki is also devoted to RYSE Hawaii (Residential Youth Services & Empowerment), an Oahu nonprofit providing free housing, medical care, education, and employment support to homeless youth ages 14 to 24. Having experienced homelessness on Oahu herself, she is committed to helping young people find a path to safety, stability, and hope.

Before that, she spent 15 years as a biz coachsultant for creatives, helping them launch and grow fulfilling businesses. A graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts with a BFA in Musical Theatre, she occasionally finds herself onstage in musicals at local community theaters – her fave being the drunk + slutty Aunt Sheila in “It Shoulda Been You”. She’s a 3x breast cancer survivor, Judge Judy fan contest winner, CreativeMornings Montclair host, wife and mama whose life has been both strange and wonderful. She’s thrilled + proud + scaredcited to be here, thank you Liz!

Weisbart- Polson began painting and studying art at a young age. In her twenties she attended classes at the Art Students League in New York City and traveled through Southern France on painting workshops. Her artwork is in private collections and galleries across the country. Lori has a BA in Communications from The American University and an Associate Degree in Advertising Design from The Fashion Institute of Technology. Her true love is painting and drawing.

In addition to enjoying fine art, Lori has been representing preeminent portrait painters for over twenty years. Clients include MIT, Yale, Brown, Dartmouth, Cornell. Before becoming an agent, Lori was an art director for Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising Worldwide in New York City. She has been featured in the Hamptons NY Gallery Guide The Sag Harbor Express, 201 Magazine and FIT’s Hue Magazine. www.LoriWeisbartArt.com For the entire inventory of paintings and drawings please visit www.LWeisbart.com