Nick Ekern

Director of Marketing

A PNW native, Nick grew up 30 minutes north of Seattle, Washington. He suffered from anxiety and depression as a teenager and became passionate about mental health as a result. He especially noticed how these challenges affected his performance in school.

These difficulties continued into college where Nick struggled to excel as a student-athlete, Honors student, and double major. After briefly quitting the university’s tennis team, Nick read two books written by a former collegiate athlete turned sports psychologist, whose books provided tools to deal with anxiety from demanding schedules. These tools allowed Nick to thrive and have what he called “the best year of my life” his senior year.

Nick couldn’t believe how the tools helped him be extremely happy in difficult circumstances. After interning for the same sports psychologist who taught him to thrive, Nick wondered why he hadn’t been taught these tools earlier in life. He also wanted to do work that would provide them to others who were struggling.

The Inspiring Children Foundation was the first organization Nick found that operates at the intersection of mental health and high performance. Every day, he sees kids with difficult challenges overcome their struggles and thrive in the same way that he did. Nick even says that ICF goes even further to help kids grow, understand themselves, and develop in ways that he had only dreamed of previously.

Nick oversees the Foundation’s marketing and IT components. He also supports Ryan (Co-Founder), and Trent (CEO) with their projects, and assists with operations. Every now and then, you can find him coaching tennis at the partner academy.