Nicole Delma was born September 19, 1978 in Bellevue, Washington.
Following her graduation from high school, she received a full academic scholarship to Santa Clara University. "I was
really too young at 17 to know exactly what I wanted to do", she explained, "so I switched my major from Psychology to Marketing
and finally to Communications and got my degree in Movie/TV Production."
For two years following college, she worked as a media buyer in San Jose,
California. "Everything in San Jose at the time was very high tech and centered around material possessions", she says,
"so although I was making more money than my parents, I felt very unsatisfied working in the corporate world." She quit
her job and moved to southern California to live by the beach, enrolling in the Santa Monica School of Massage. She
emerged from that training as a certified massage therapist and soon built a practice in sports massage. Living in Hermosa
Beach, she worked mostly with professional volleyball athletes as a massage therapist/trainer.
In early 2003, Nicole was discovered by a producer from the Survivor TV show as
she was running on the beach. Since she obviously fit their profile as a "young cutie" and was an avid marathon
runner in top physical condition, she was selected for Survivor: Pearl Islands without ever sending an application. She
describes herself as "a very spiritual person and I believe things happen for a reason. The experience really did change
my life and the way I look at things."
"Before Survivor", she continued, "I was very independent and was used to doing things
for myself and by myself. But seeing how my quickness to write off people who I don't necessarily get along with
got me kicked off the show, I was able to take a hard look at myself. I had been living alone, but when I returned home
I was craving the company of other people. I moved in with three roommates and loved the social interraction.
Being forced to spend time in Panama with a small group of strangers for 6 weeks around the clock really helped me
become more tolerant, understanding and compassionate."
In October, 2003, Nicole moved to northern Virginia to live with her mother and
brother and save up some money for her next adventure. After seeing another part of the world with a different culture,
she wants to travel abroad. "I am spending much of my free time researching places I want to visit", she admits, "After
doing Survivor, I'm bored of the hum drum of ordinary life." While she eventually wants to find a role where "I
can feel I'm making a difference in the world", she wants to visit many places and experience many other ways
of life in order to discover what that role might be.
Nicole loves gourmet cooking and looks forward to sampling the exotic cusines of far
away places. To sum up this awesome young lady in her own words, "I am not destined to have a normal American life!"
