The magic of G.L.O.W.: Nicci Page’s light shines as she fights for justice

By Yvette Caslin
Aug 08, 2017
7:57 am

From the halls of the courtroom to the billions of pages on the internet, Nicci Page has a halo-like burst of light beaming from her pen.

The St. John’s University School of Law graduate, who founded G.L.O.W. and Flow, a digital and social platform which features original content that inspires women to lead lives infused with gratitude, love, optimism, and wisdom (G.L.O.W.), says, “While pursuing justice for others, I began to feel a call from my inner creative encouraging me to also pursue my dream. In my daily work, I have seen so much darkness — violence, the physical and mental effects of long term drug abuse, a system of so-called justice that is fatally flawed — and I decided that I have to shine some light in the world. I wanted to inspire people, especially Black women, to glow. So, I created G.L.O.W. and Flow, which inspires women to lead lives infused with gratitude, love, optimism, and wisdom.”

In September 2006, Page joined the Bronx County District Attorney’s Office as an assistant district attorney. “[I was] the little Black girl from Erie, Pennsylvania, whose grandmother had 11 children and never graduated from high school was not only a college graduate, but a law school graduate, and a prosecutor in the biggest city in the country,” she shares of her humble beginnings.

Page is a graduate of Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, where she double majored in English and political science. She studied race in American politics and political analysis at the University of Virginia as an American Political Science Association Ralph Bunche Fellow.

She reflects, “In the years to come I would ride the A train every morning from Broadway Junction in Brooklyn to 161st Street in the Bronx. On a daily basis, I worked in the complaint room ’til the wee hours of the morning, meeting with crime victims and drafting charges against defendants. I stood in courtrooms arraigning defendants for alleged crimes. I prepared undercover police officers for testimony and I presented felony cases to the grand jury. I indicted hundreds of defendants. I responded to motions, made oral arguments and conducted trials. But in the end, I realized that I had become a cog in the machine. I was a willing participant in the assembly line that churns out life-altering criminal convictions mostly against people who look like me. In the end, I realized that I had to ‘get out.’

“I ended up working for another New York City agency that investigates civilian complaints and administratively prosecutes police officers who are accused of misconduct. In my role as an administrative prosecutor, I tried and won a case where a lieutenant arrested a teenager in East New York for trespassing because he was leaning on a fence as he waited at a bus stop. The officer claimed that leaning on the outside of the fence was trespass because the civilian’s shoulder was ‘on school property.’

“In another memorable case, I got a verdict of guilty where an officer conducted a prohibited chokehold on a defendant during the course of his arrest. This administrative disposition was the first verdict of guilty for an allegation of a chokehold in more than 20 years. My work with the victims of police misconduct has been rewarding. These victims are often members of the most marginalized communities in society, so the gratitude that they express when someone finally fights for them is humbling.”

In addition to practicing law, Page is a writer, a humorist and an inspirational speaker as well a former contributing writer for Issa Rae’s entertainment blog “Tea & Breakfast.” The content she creates on G.L.O.W. is a unique mixture of hip-hop and Scripture designed to connect with the modern woman of faith. Page explains, “G.L.O.W. and Flow inspires and celebrates women who are #BelieversAndBaddies; women who spit verses from the Bible and B-I-G women who possess courage and authenticity. I write witty blogs and produce a web series called ‘The Glow Up’ that explores how faith factors into the lives of successful, creative and courageous women of faith like model and actress Liris Crosse; award-winning entrepreneur Tani Chambers; Essence magazine ‘It’ girl Janelle Langford; the producer of the popular series ‘The Grapevine,’ Ashley Akunna; celebrity stylist Raven Roberts; and the CEO of Fabulously Fundraising, Kishshana Palmer. While continuing to fight for justice, I’m also following my dreams and letting my light shine. And the good news is that you can too.”