This story was first published in the Miami Times. To view the story, click here.
As a young girl growing up in the tropical island of Jamaica, where poverty and unemployment rates were high in the 80s, Nicole A. Marriott witnessed how her grandmother cared for the less fortunate, from feeding the homeless to sharing meals with impoverished street peddlers.
“When we expanded our home, she created a space accessible from the outside where people who had nowhere to sleep could find refuge,” Marriott remembers the woman who was not just her primary caretaker, but her role model, too. The sense of humility and the importance of uplifting others through generosity still drives Marriott today.
In her seven years as President and CEO of the Health Council of South Florida (HCSF), and another seven as board chair of the Florida Breast Cancer Foundation (FBCF), which she joined in 2018, the devoted wife and mother to a teenage daughter aims to improve people’s quality of life and health when they’re at their most vulnerable.
Under Marriott’s leadership, the FBCF has supported breast cancer research by funding screening exams to low-income populations through the Mary Brogan Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection program, expanding access to diagnostic imaging by eliminating financial barriers, and promoting self-check education for breast cancer and the importance of annual checkups for young women.
As breast cancer is the second leading cause of death in women, according to the American Cancer Society, “there’s no one who either hasn’t been touched personally or doesn’t know someone who’s been affected,” Marriot said, adding that her cousin and a close friend are among the 13 percent of women in the U.S. who developed this type of cancer.
For Marriott, the ability to contribute to such an important cause is deeply tied to the risks her family took when she was a teenager. At 16, her family moved to the US, hoping for better education and opportunities. Eventually, the young Jamaican laid down her roots in Miami and began building a future she believes her grandmother would be proud of.
Marriott pursued a bachelor’s degree in public administration at Florida International University (FIU). Later, she returned to earn her MBA – a level of education little Marriott could have only dreamt of.
“Going to college and being able to build a career that I am proud of may not have been something that I would’ve been able to accomplish back home,” she said.
Marriott started her career as a public assistance case manager for the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) in Broward County, where she worked with those in need of food stamps and Medicaid. Since then, she has become a key leader in enhancing healthcare quality and expanding access to care for South Florida’s uninsured and under-resourced individuals.
More than 20 years of making a difference in people’s lives has led the Health Foundation of South Florida to recognize Marriott as an honoree for Inspiring Women of Health in 2023.
Though she’s proud of the award, her work, she said, is far from done.
“I think knowing that the work that the Florida Breast Cancer Foundation is doing across the state to highlight, to educate, to fund research, I think that is something that I will continue to stand behind and support,” said Marriott. “Hopefully we can one day get to the point where we’ll never have to say the word ‘cancer’.”
