Bridge the Gap Campaign: Nicole of HLS

What is the Bridge the Gap Campaign? 

Today is an extra exciting day due in part to the launch of an unprecedented campaign: “Bridging the Gap.” This campaign is all about creating a connection between Millennials and Midlife Influencers. With 100 individual women from each generation interacting with each other, the goal is to bridge the gap between each other; blurring the boundaries in order to show that we are all stronger together. We are putting an end to the labels and differing cultural beliefs that are causing us to divide. Age is simply a number. What truly matters is a person's attitude and perspective of life and all its happenings. We are millennial women supporting midlife influencer women, but are more than willing to let men join in the celebration. Together, we desire to send a powerful message, showing that we women have chosen to be seen for who we are, rather than the number on our birth certificates. We believe in a world without separation and together, we are a far stronger than we would ever be apart. Please join us in this revolutionary campaign as it is the heart and soul of women that truly matter in the end.

The Best Part of Linking Up (Yes, I'm singing the Folgers' jingle right now!)

Back in the spring of 2016, I stumbled onto Nicole Mölders blog, High Latitude Style's, through a weekly link up I participate in. The title of her blog, along with the fact that she lived in Alaska peaked my interest. I've never visited Alaska and my only impression of the state was through shows like, "The Alaskan Frontier" and "Alaskan Bush People". While watching these shows, fashion did not play a part in my limited view of Alaskan folks going about their days. Yet here Nicole was, pulling off fashion in the last frontier.  

Upon further investigation of her blog, I noticed that she was a scientist who published 2 books in her field of study! Her blog is so well organized, it didn't take long discover the link ups where she was a participant. In fact, she hosts her own weekly link up called Top of the World Style! Naturally, I decided to add her to my list of link ups. I'm so glad I did.

I was never put off by the age difference, but rather encouraged that style isn't limited to a specific age group! Through her weekly posts it became more evident that she thoroughly enjoys putting outfits together, ranging from work appropriate wear, to outfits for a night out of ballroom dancing and even some casual wear for day to day life. 

Did I Actually Meet Nicole - IN ALASKA??

Soon after I began linking up with Nicole's blog I learned that my sister, and best friend, would be moving to Alaska. Now I paid closer attention to each post Nicole featured, trying to glean insight into the world where my sister would soon be. Around Thanksgiving some sweet and thoughtful friends surprised me with a ticket to Alaska to visit my sister in February! After getting over the wonderful shock and surprise of what I knew would be one of my greatest adventures, I emailed Nicole.

"What part of Alaska did she live in?"

"Did she have any tips for someone coming to visit?"

Nicole responded quickly with a fabulous, detailed response; fully preparing me for the drastic environment difference. Alaskan winters are surprising different from Georgia winters. ;)

In addition to her helpful tips, she had more great news: she lived a mere 15 minutes from where my sister lived and invited us out to visit her at the university where she worked!

The Meet Up

Can we talk about how we color coordinated???

It was nearing the end of my Alaska visit, but we had a couple of free hours, so I pestered my sister to take me to Fairbanks University to meet Nicole. 

We parked at the Geophysical Institute and met Nicole in her office. She was a sweet and welcoming hostess. (Can we talk about how we color coordinated!?) We chatted about her life in Alaska and why she liked living in Fairbanks versus Anchorage. It was all about the weather; colder in Anchorage due it's proximity to the water, etc, etc. The scientist was peeking through. :)

 I asked to take a look at her book,  "Land-Use and Land-Cover Changes - Impact on Climate and Air Quality" and could barely follow along. I was impressed with her beautiful mind.

{For those curious, Nicole's book deals with how deforestation, afforestation, agricultural changes, irrigation, establishing water reservoirs with dams, open pit mining, urbanization, etc. affect local weather, i.e. cloud and precipitation formation. Since vegetation also emits volatile gases, land-cover changes also affect air quality. Some of these volatile gases affect ozone formation and the formation of particles. Her other book, in which she is the first author, is called "Lectures in Meteorology". It is a textbook for students who study meteorology, atmospheric sciences, hydrology or environmental or civil engineering.}

I wished we had more time to grab that cup of coffee we originally planned on sharing, but I know if we had, the conversation would have went something like this...

Over Coffee...(Someday!)

I love Nicole in this fabulous leather trench!

Me: Nicole, how did you ever get into atmospheric science? It's not exactly your everyday type of job.

Nicole: Well, Chrissy, My father used to listen to radio broadcasts from all over the world. One day, he talked about a broadcast at dinner. It dealt with expected local climate change due to irrigation. Since he could not answer why irrigation altered local climate, I decided to become a meteorologist.

Me: What was it like to be a woman in the field of science when you first started out?

Nicole: In my thirties and early 40s, I just worked on my career. At that time, women were a minority in sciences. We also weren't allowed to do certain things. Thus, I ended up as modeler. The professors (of course all male) didn't want us in the field and do measurements. "It's too dangerous!!!!" We didn't have any role models either. There were no female TAs except for one in math. There, women were a bit more accepted. By the way, that woman also became a prof and I worked with her when I was a Heisenberg professor (it's an honorary professorship) in Leipzig. Today, guys are a minority in atmospheric science students. The reason, you can't make much money with that job, or better more generally, is science doesn't have well paid jobs.

Me: What do you like to do with your spare time?

Nicole: Ever since I was a kid, I loved dancing. I wanted to take ballet, but my mom didn't approve. Perhaps it was the money, but for sure time and travel to the location were the reasons. In middle school I took sewing classes. In high school I was on the dance team. We did Westside Story and things like that. In graduate school I was on the rock'n roll team and I took jewelry making classes for recreation. 

Today I think it was a mistake not to dance in my thirties and early forties. I took up dancing again in 2007 and it so improved my health and my body. I had to more or less overhaul nearly my entire wardrobe. That was a good thing, though.

I also enjoy gardening, which is tough with a vegetation season of less than 100 days, but it works.

Me: What advice would you have for your readers advancing towards midlife?

I adore this 7 layer tulle skirt and love the way she styled it!

Nicole: What I think is important for your readers, who are slowly advancing towards midlife is that. like when we were teenagers, your body will totally change again in pre- and post menopause. There are two times ahead where they will have to totally overhaul their closet. Things that worked all your life as a women don't do it anymore starting from color to cuts. Even worse the fashion industry only cuts for bodies of 20 somethings and pregnant women and young mothers. This has to change.

Me: When you're not reading books about science, what do you like to read?

I love to read books about fashion history.

The only subscription I have is for the German Version of Walt Disney's pocket books. I am a big comic fan of Donald Duck and his family. Isn't it interesting that they don't have fathers and mothers? Why is that?

Me: You grew up in Germany and now you live in Alaska. Anywhere else you would like to visit?

Hawaii is up first on my travel, may be also Argentina. My favorite dance is Argentine Tango (street style/performance style).

Any pets, Nicole?

I love mobile mouse traps, aka cats.

Any children?

I have no kids. In the 60s, they gave pregnant women medication to avoid pre-mature birth. Later they found out that this medication harmed female babies. Some got an uterus that is just 10% of the size of a normal one (me), some went thru menopause in there early 30s (this happened to my sister). Once she was ready to have kids she was already not ovulating anymore. 

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There are many layers to Nicole! In addition to writing books on science she has also published a book on fashion! Now this is a book I could keep up with. ;) Her style is sophisticated, unique and fun. I know it's no easy feat to find great fashion in Alaska. I didn't see a huge variety of clothing stores in Fairbanks, though I did see a Blockbuster rental store (seriously, it was still in operation). This makes Nicole's great style even more impressive. I'm so thankful I was able to meet her in person and I look forward to getting to know her more in the days to come! :)

You can follow Nicole on Instagram, High Latitude Style and Bloglovin! You will love it. :)

Want to check out the other teams of Briding the Gap campaigners? Hop on over to Catherine Grace's site for a full list of all involved. I look forward to reading about all of these lovely ladies. 

Chrissy

Linking up with Spread the Kindness with Shelbee,