SHAIR 203: Hip Sobriety with Bree NicoliSHAIR 203: Hip Sobriety with Bree Nicoli
The SHAIR Recovery Podcast
Bree Nicoli talks candidly with Omar Pinto about her rapid slide into cocaine addiction, the family ultimatum that forced a choice, and how NA, rehab and step work led to three years clean. She also shares how recovery opened the door to a thriving lash extension business and a different sense of fun and freedom.
1:32:08•1 Jan 2019
Hip Sobriety, Hard Truths: Bree Nicoli on Cocaine, Family Ultimatums and a New Life
Episode Overview
- Bree describes starting with inhalants at school, then moving through weed, molly and acid before becoming rapidly hooked on cocaine.
- Her mum’s late-night confrontation and her dad’s ultimatum (“find help or forget you have a father”) pushed her to accept treatment.
- Outpatient work with Jim and regular NA meetings, including a strong women’s meeting, became the backbone of her three years clean.
- Step work shifted her perspective from doing recovery for her parents to doing it for herself and her own life.
- Sobriety has allowed her to build a busy lash extension business and a fuller life than she imagined when she feared giving up drugs and parties.
“I remember whenever I was little, I used to go with my dad to meetings… I'm not waiting for my dad in the entrance… I'm sitting right here as an addict.”
What makes a recovery story truly inspiring? For many, it's hearing from someone who grew up around meetings, swore they'd never end up there, and then walks back in as an addict ready to change. That's exactly what happens as Bree Nicoli talks through her journey with host Omar Pinto on The SHAIR Recovery Podcast.
Bree, now in her early twenties with three years clean, opens up about starting with inhalants at school, moving on to weed, molly and acid, and then finding cocaine – the drug she says had her "completely hooked" from the first line.
She recalls carrying paint thinner in her school bag, getting sent to rehab as a teenager, and later being confronted by her mum after coming home wired from a night of using: "She hugged me… my heart was racing… she knew." Her dad Max, long in recovery himself, then laid it out bluntly over a video call: get help or lose the relationship.
You'll hear how Bree went from that ultimatum to outpatient treatment with Jim at Costa Rica Recovery, into NA meetings, and toward a new life.
She talks about step work as the moment it stopped being about pleasing her parents and started being about her own recovery, and she laughs about seeing newcomers now and thinking, "Everyone comes in and we're fucking crazy." Away from drugs, Bree has built a packed-out lash extension business, working long days and joking that her clients panic more about their eyelashes than she does about taking holidays.
She shares honestly about jealousy in business, friendship fallouts, spiritual life that’s more universe than religion, and the power of her women’s meeting where they repeat: "Don't pick up no matter what." If you’ve ever wondered whether you’re "bad enough" for help, or worried sobriety means no fun and no future, Bree’s story might be the reality check—and the relief—you need today.
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