[1] To earn money for college, Nichols worked a variety of jobs, including driving a combine harvester and washing barrels in a cannery.
[1] While studying forestry and pre-engineering at the University of Washington, Nichol was inspired by an evening class with landscape architect Richard Haag.
[3][4] In 1999, after three years of collaborating, Nichol and Jennifer Guthrie (her colleague at Anderson & Ray) started a firm in Seattle, inviting Gustafson to join them in a Seattle-based partnership.
The agreement was that Guthrie and Nichol would run the Seattle partnership, while Gustafson continued her European practice and participated as a "visiting fireman.
The decision to recreate the native Prairie that once dominated the Chicago area led to the inclusion of garden designer Piet Oudolf, in what was his first North American project.
[13] Nichol also served as landscape design lead on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Campus project, completed in 2011, in collaboration with the architecture firm NBBJ.
[21] Nichol became active in AIA Seattle and other design and architecture organizations, based on her collaborations with architects on urban projects.