Christina Nicholson

• Cooperative Finance Developer - Worker Owner Initiative
• Pronouns: she/her
• Year Hired: 2020

In my role at Nexus, I serve as the Cooperative Finance Developer for the Worker Owner Initiative (WOI), which is part of Nexus’ Community Wealth Building Strategy. I help both start-ups and existing businesses understand the role worker ownership can play in successful owner retirement strategies as well as improved workplace cultures for teams. With solid technical assistance and organizational support, worker-owner cooperatives can grow and perpetuate community wealth by expanding opportunities for local business ownership.

About Christina

I have been working in cooperatives in Minnesota for 25 years in a wide range of roles, from front-of-house retail to construction to cooperative consulting. In all of my endeavors, the thread has been working to connect communities to each other through common cause. This has been framed for me as a shared economy that questions the normative culture of the unequal exploitation of labor. Rather than focus on what is wrong, cooperatives look to inspire a shared sense of success and equity among community members within the cooperative.

When done well, cooperatives celebrate the unique contributions of individuals while challenging assumptions about how we perpetuate destructive myths around gender, race, and class. I am so excited to be a part of Nexus and look forward to learning from my peers who continue to inspire me with their vast knowledge of community wealth building, leadership, and development of strategic partnerships!

When not at work, I like to spend time with my wife and our daughter and two dogs, all while making food, growing food, sharing food and arguing about who is doing the dinner dishes.