At last Wednesday’s meeting, we had the pleasure of the key people of Cole Residential, Nick Cole and Nicole Bricknell, giving us a deeper insight into their personalities, their work and their families.First up: Nicole Bricknell.
Real Estate is her chosen vocation (and very professional too: men of the calibre of our Mario Fairlie don’t do business with amateurs). But Nicole’s major passion is Horses, particularly Horse Racing. No wonder, she literally grew up on the race track: she is the daughter of the Gold Coast’s famous bookmaker, Laurie Bricknell!
After her schooling at the local Girl’s School St Hilda’s, she qualified in Beauty Therapy. But racing is her passion. With great enthusiasm, Nicole recalled some memorable events, including one of her horses running in the Melbourne Cup, winning the Monster Cup, and – not to be sneezed at – being given a lift to the race track by nonother than… Prime Minister Bob Hawke. “He used to call dad for tips” she quipped…
Following the breakup of her marriage, Nicole studied to obtain a Real Estate Agent’s license. “I have become a very strong, resilient woman,” she said. She joined Cole Residential in 2018 and was introduced to our club by Mario Fairlie when she sold his former home on Paradise Waters and found him his new home. Mario introduced her to the fundraising committee of St John’s Crisis Centre, and she soon was immersed there in a major and very successful fundraiser.
Following on was Nick Cole, (Director of Cole Residential): Nick went to school at the local TSS, the prominent Boy’s School (PDG Darrell Brown’s son Lochlin was in his class as well). Even though his mother was well established in the local Real Estate industry, his choice was to complete a Bachelor of IT. On completion – off to London, then Sydney, where he worked with Rabobank and UBS. Upon his marriage in 2008, he joined the family business (Lucy Cole Prestige Properties). His qualifications enabled Nick to establish a major upgrade of the company’s IT systems. Eventually, he decided to “step out of mum’s shadow” and founded Cole Residential, with offices on the Isle of Capri.
Nick is very active and an avid supporter of various local community groups, including the Mermaid Beach Surf Life Saving Club.
(Photo, from left: Meeting Chairman Ian Mayberry, Nicole Bricknell and Nick Cole)