John Nicklos II brings community-centered impact, energy

We are living in the presence of a modern-day, Paul Robeson-esque Renaissance man. John Albert Nicklos II literally does it all. 

He will gladly share all that he has accomplished and is currently working on—not as a brag, but as an affirmation of all who have poured into him and all to whom he seeks to pour. It is a testament to his mother’s powerful charge on his life when she told him, “Baby, you already made me proud. I hope you go make yourself proud.”

Mission accomplished.

Nicklos, 42, describes himself as someone still learning to be human.

“As I learn how to be human and explore those different depths of my humanity, I share them with other people,” Nicklos says. “I try to create as many pathways as possible for other people to experience their humanity. A lot of times, that’s through storytelling. Everything I do has some type of aspect of storytelling to it.”

His background is exceptionally diverse, covering aerospace, building rockets and satellites, working with liquefied natural gas plants, selling handbags, and facilitating city-wide business training programs. Though it may not be his official mantra, Nicklos lives by a clear philosophy: “I tell people often, you should bring your whole ass to the party. No half-assing. What’s the point in coming if you’re not going to bring all of you?”

Builder by nature

“I’m a builder by nature,” Nicklos says. “I like to build things. I like to scale stuff. I’m a visionary.”

Rather than being drawn to specific industries, he feels the industries and his talents simply intersected naturally.

“What I do know is that I really enjoy vision casting, scaling, taking something, seeing how grand and how big it might be. Because of that, my work is very big. It’s kind of loud in that way.”

A prime example of this vision is his work as the chair for Juneteenth Houston. In its first year, Nicklos helped design a simple website calendar to centralize city events. By year five, the initiative expanded into the “19 Days of Juneteenth,” creating three weeks of tourism centered around the Black experience, Black businesses, and Black history in Houston.

“Next year, we’re going to take the whole month—June 1 through June 30,” Nicklos shares. “It’s really just me wanting to show up and make something as best as it can possibly be given my unique value that I can bring to the table.”

Many lives, one imagination

As an eight-year-old, Nicklos imagined saving lives seven days a week, wanting to be a firefighter during the week and a pastor on weekends. As an adult, his interests expanded to include dreams of becoming an astronaut, an oceanographer, and a marine biologist.

Growing up living primarily with his mother, but raised by her and a powerfully present father, Nicklos’s childhood was filled with tools that unlocked his creativity, from Sports Illustrated videos that introduced him to sumo wrestling, to learning about Yo-Yo Ma and Wynton Marsalis when he wanted to play the trumpet.

“I’ve just lived many lives,” he reflects. “I’m really grateful that I’ve had the opportunity to explore so many of them… I want to always make sure that I lead with that, because I know that the lot that I have in life is very special.”

His entrepreneurial spirit is deeply rooted in his family. His grandmother ran a beauty salon out of a split two-car garage, while his father spent 40 years delivering papers for the Houston Forward Times while working as a weekend DJ, photographer, and music mixer. Growing up as an only child further fueled his internal world.

“My imagination just ran wild,” Nicklos says. “I’m always going to be looking for a soft place to land and a safe place to be. That’s the community in me.”

Full-circle moments

Nicklos’s journey includes deep ties to Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU), where he is a semester shy of an electrical engineering degree. Years after leaving school, he returned to build an on-campus innovation hub.

This work was built upon a relationship that started over 20 years ago when PVAMU professor Tracy Moore invited him to teach an entrepreneurship class and help students write a business plan for a creative design lab. Decades later, when Juneteenth Houston launched a campaign for a Texas-based Juneteenth flag, both Professor Moore and one of her students were among the top six finalists.

“To just know that this relationship started 20-some-odd years ago… It’s those things that feel really, really good to me,” Nicklos says. “In those moments, I feel like the kids are going to be alright. The elders are going to be alright.”

Driven by passion

Through his boutique business consulting firm, Lead360, Nicklos handles business development and strategy, collaborating with the Greater Houston Black Chamber of Commerce and revamping the business residency program with Project Row Houses.

His other ventures are equally impactful. He runs My Degree is Black, a company that travels across the country to capture HBCU alumni stories to drive enrollment and funding. As an artist, he is hired to perform poetry nationally and internationally. His creative mind has also birthed community initiatives like “Coloring for the Culture,” “Black Men Smile,” and the “Black Neighborhood Quilt Project.”

“At this point in life, the most beautiful thing that my resume has gifted me is to not need another bullet point on it,” Nicklos says. “I realize that I don’t need to prove anything to anybody… The projects that grab my attention are the things that I lean into.”

Praise for Nicklos

Those who know Nicklos and his work are not shy about offering praise.

“It’s a blessing that someone as kind as John is doing the work he’s doing because it’s beyond important,” offered Jerry Madison, actor and founder of Black Cinema Club HTX.

“When I think about Nina Simone. James Baldwin, Angela Davis, or Gordon Parks’s contributions to culture, I hold John Nicklos II’s name in that realm,” said Wyntress Xion, national artist.

“John’s core principles of joy and education, combined with his unwavering dedication to the Black community, make working with him effortless and learning from him a blessing,” said Dr. Asheli Atkins, president and CEO of the Greater Houston Black Chamber. 

“My son John has a heart for people and family,” said Nicklos’s mother, Sirtrenia Griffin. “Preservation of history is in his DNA.”

Elevating collective wealth

At the core of everything Nicklos touches is a guiding life mantra: “When I am well, my community is well. When my community is well, I am well.”

He believes true wealth-building must extend beyond personal bank accounts and standard religious or alumni tithes.

“We keep telling everybody to go get rich, but we don’t tell them to make their communities better with that richness,” Nicklos explains. “It’s going to always be, for me, when you go get your bag, the community should be getting some too. Because you don’t get that bag without the community. Nobody does this alone.”