Nichole is a New Jersey girl that has made her home and her business in Georgia. Dahlonega was the beginning of Nichole’s successful business, Sun Tan, a local sun tanning store (one of three) that she owns with her husband Brandon. Nichole is married to Brandon Brown and they have an adorable son, Giovanni. I met Nichole at her shop in Dahlonega.
Question: What inspired you or led you to your current career?
Answer: After college, I ended up working for a wholesale company that sold tanning beds, lotions, and bulbs. My Dad had passed away and I wanted a job that was just a transition at the time. I ended up staying three years and quickly advancing to sales and I just loved the business. I ended up visiting Dahlonega and I thought it would be a great place for my first tanning salon. It was a college town and that really made sense, so I opened my first tanning salon in Dahlonega in 2001 in a small space next to Moore’s Lumber Company and then moved to the Walmart Shopping Center and have been there now nineteen years.
Question: What do you think draws people to Dahlonega?
Answer: The charm of the town is like no other! They do movies here, for goodness sake. This town is so quaint and so nice. Even the business owners are extraordinary. You just know them, you become friends and colleagues and support each other. I’ve been here 20 years now. The relationships you make in a small town are like no other. It’s unexplainable. You just can’t go to Atlanta and do what we do or have what we have in Dahlonega, you just can’t. It’s a truly special place. And to add to that it is absolutely breathtaking.
Question: What is your favorite restaurant in Dahlonega?
Answer: Wow, there are so many new ones that have opened up recently I haven’t had a chance to check out. I’d have to say Shenanigans and Spirits. Shenanigans has a great burger, beer and the atmosphere of a friendly small town and Spirts has wonderful drinks and just really good food. I have to say that Dahlonega has some of the best restaurants around and there is such a variety.
Question: If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?
Answer: Oh, that’s an easy one for me….my hometown of Calabria, Italy. I would plant myself in a vineyard and drink some wine and take in my homeland. Who wouldn’t love Italy?
Question: What is your favorite movie or what is the first movie you remember seeing?
Answer: I just saw the new version of “A Star is Born” and loved it. BUT…I am going to see the new movie that was just released Bohemian Rhapsody this weekend and I know it is going to be fabulous. That said, my all-time Favorite movie is “Pretty Woman”
Question: What are three bands you would like to see (dead or alive?)
Answer: Prince – I grew up roller skating and dancing to Prince, Queen and Michael Jackson I really love music of all kinds. Oh, George Strait. If you ask my husband the same question about his favorite band, he would say George Strait would be his #1, #2 and #3
Question: What advice would you give to people?
Answer: This is what I say to everybody… “What you are crying about today, what you are stressing about today, what you’re dying about this very second, in another week, another month, another year isn’t even a pea in your brain anymore. Everything ALWAYS works out. Try not to stress about it. Life is Good. Be happy.”
Question: If you could choose anyone (dead or alive) to have lunch with, who would you choose?
Answer: My Dad…that’s an easy question. He believed in everything good. On my eighteenth birthday he handed me a card and it said. “I give you the world. Now go explore.” He was a visionary. My Dad was an encourager. He told me I was beautiful every day. He told me I made the most amazing sandwiches in the whole wide world. He was positive about everything. I had him for twenty-five years and I would do it again in a heartbeat just to have those twenty-five years.
Question: What three phrases or words come to mind when you think of HOME?
Answer: Love, Gratitude, and Commitment
Question: Do you have a Bucket List?
Answer: Oh no. I AM the Bucket List. I live the bucket list. I always knew I wanted to be successful, as I define it. My Dad taught me that success is being able to do what you want, when you want it and can afford to do it. I don’t mean it in a way of excess necessarily. For instance, if you want to go to Hilton Head on a spur of the moment, we have to set up our lives to be able to get in the car and go. We love to travel and plan fun vacations a couple of times a year. I know some people like to go buy a tractor or a vacation home and we like to travel and create new adventures. Our life really is an adventure!
