Indra Nicholas may have left New Orleans at the tender age of four, but the vibrant culture of the South remains a cornerstone of her identity. Now a City Councilor in Grants Pass, Nicholas reflects on her journey from Louisiana to Missouri to Oregon, driven by a love for community and a commitment to making a difference.
“I visited my grandparents twice a year, at Christmas and in the summer, and I love the South,” Nicholas shared. “Being from the South, I love crawfish—and it’s crawfish, not crayfish. I also adore fried oyster po’ boys and the music of New Orleans.”
After her family left New Orleans, Nicholas grew up in Kansas City, Missouri, where her mother worked for the Kansas City Kings basketball team. When the team relocated to Sacramento, her mother followed, and Nicholas joined her after completing her studies at the University of Missouri in Columbia.
For a decade, Nicholas built a life in Sacramento, where she married and began considering the ideal environment to raise a family. That search led her to Grants Pass in 1996.
“I’ve lived here a long time, and I’ve just seen it change over the years,” Nicholas said.
The transformations within the community sparked her desire to run for a seat on the City Council.
“I’m a really good problem solver,” Nicholas explained. “I think that’s a real strength of mine—looking at the whole issue and finding solutions. I really feel like I can make a difference and bring our community back to what it once was: a great place to live and raise a family.”
Nicholas’s journey in Grants Pass has been marked by a variety of roles. As a stay-at-home mother of four, she balanced family life while contributing to the community as a substitute teacher for about a decade. In 2005, she transitioned into entrepreneurship, opening an in-home care agency franchise from scratch.
“I started in Grants Pass and eventually expanded to Medford, working in Josephine, Jackson, and Klamath counties,” she said. “It was so rewarding; we have so many amazing seniors in our community.”
Nicholas sold the business in 2018, then ventured into a completely new endeavor—opening Udders, an ice cream shop on NE 7th Street.
“I wanted to do something fun, with no on-call,” she said. “I took a couple of classes to learn how to make ice cream, and it’s been a joy. The business runs itself now, which gives me the time to give back to the community.”
Nicholas brings her firsthand experience as a business owner to her role on the council, understanding the challenges local businesses face in the wake of the pandemic.
“Being a business owner, I really want to see our business community prosper,” she said. “It’s like we’ve never fully come back from the pandemic. I want to help our business community thrive because that success will bring in revenue to help our city as a whole prosper. My goal is to be proactive, not reactive.”
When she’s not working on city matters or running her ice cream shop, Nicholas enjoys reading and watching sports. A lifelong Kansas City Chiefs fan, she’s eagerly cheering on her team in the playoffs.
As she embarks on her tenure as a City Councilor, Nicholas’s diverse background and dedication to community service promise to bring fresh energy and a problem-solving mindset to Grants Pass.
