Nicole K. Grimes is an alumna of The Graduate Center, City University of New York (CUNY) where she received a Ph.D. in Urban Education with a concentration in Mathematics, Science and Technology. She is an education consultant, professional development workshop leader and speaker. A former NYC high school principal, she has been a fervent STEM educator for 18+ years working across public, private & charter schooling. As a teacher educator, she has served as a university adjunct assistant professor at CUNY Lehman in New York City since 2008 teaching varied graduate education courses. She earned an M.A. in Secondary Science Education from Teachers College, Columbia University & a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Cornell University.
A lover of writing and editing, Grimes has earned awards for her education publications including an award from CSSE (Cultural Studies of Science Education) – Best Manuscript of the Year for 2013 & a Best Manuscript Award V from ASTE for Implications of Research for Educational Practice in 2010.
She served as the first woman of color and lay-person Principal of Dominican Academy from 2015-2018. Dominican Academy is an all-girls college preparatory high school for academically strong girls in New York City. The school was founded in 1897 and ranks in the top 10 girls high schools in the state of NY and top 100 Catholic schools in the U.S.
In 2018, Grimes resigned from her last post to become a full-time consultant. Her passion for Caribbean culture and supporting her colleagues led her to firstly starting Carib Biz Network (CBN) as a passion project on social media in 2019. The goal was to share the entrepreneurial endeavors of her Caribbean friends and extended community members.
“I had so many Caribbean American colleagues starting small businesses and struggling to navigate that world. I myself was so passionate about all their ideas and products; and I wanted to help.”
Today, Carib Biz Network is a blossoming business development ecosystem dedicated to the growth and success of Caribbean small and micro businesses. Its mission is to connect, support, amplify and deliver information and resources to Caribbean entrepreneurs to make them more impactful and successful small businesses. Its services include workshops, webinars, networking and social events, pop-up markets and marketing and branding services via its internal creative agency – Creative MRKT. With its three core values of Education (to serve as a preferred knowledge base providing access to information and resources for the Caribbean diaspora), Advocacy (to advocate for initiatives that amplify and improve the livelihoods of Caribbean Americans; and Awareness (to promote and showcase the diversity of products and services of the Caribbean community nationally), CBN remains fervently committed to the success of its network.
