Subject Matter Flexpert + School Closure Vote June 4 + Diamond Heels Are Home

By Elana Etten

Nikki Soulsby wrote her first book in two weeks to win an argument. She's been following the white rabbit ever since.

Nikki Soulsby was getting married in 2020, and she wanted a prenup. Her parents had been through a nasty divorce, so the legal protection was non-negotiable. She added a clause: any future book royalties would be hers, in perpetuity.

Her fiancé read it, chuckled, and said, "I am happy to sign this because you haven't written anything."

Game on.

Two weeks before the wedding, she sat down and wrote a full first draft. That draft became Lies I Told Myself and Other Truths: How to Squash the Mental Monsters and Live Your Dreams, a self-published collection of short, bite-sized essays about the limiting beliefs we carry and the work of moving through them. (Spoiler from Nikki: you'll always have limiting beliefs. The goal is to recognize them faster.)

That's the story behind the book. The story behind Nikki is even better.

By day, she works in corporate strategy at MetLife, where her official title is Senior Business Strategy Consultant 2. There is no 1 or 3. So she's rebranded herself as a "Subject Matter Flexpert," because the answer to whatever lands on her desk is usually, "I'll figure it out." Over the years, that's meant strategy and planning for the CTO, a machine-learning project on dental images, co-leading MetLife's US COVID response in 2020, and now innovation and experimentation.

What ties it together? "Follow the white rabbit," she says. In her twenties, she had a five-step career plan, and every step blew up in her face. So now she chases what's interesting and lets the path show up.

Outside of MetLife, Nikki is a TEDx speaker and an executive coach for early- to mid-career professionals — the 27-to-47 crowd that, as she puts it, "are in such a great position and don't feel like it." Most of her coaching, she says, comes down to one truth people don't want to hear: "We cannot change other people. Best case, we influence them." The other line she repeats often: nobody hands you a promotion because they feel sorry for you.

Nikki lives in South Durham, near Southpoint. She has a Toastmasters Triple Crown, a Duke MBA, Lean Six Sigma, and Dale Carnegie under her belt, and she keeps her maiden name, Soulsby, for writing, speaking, and coaching because, well, look at it. It's a great name.

She's currently 4:30-AM-ing her way through what she's calling, for now, the Fairy Detective Novel. A character showed up in the middle of a 10-stories-in-30-days challenge, and she was too good to leave on the page.

Find Lies I Told Myself and Other Truths on Amazon, and learn more about her coaching at nikkisoulsby.com.

⚾ Sports

Fri–Sun, May 29–31 (Mon, Jun 1 if necessary) NCAA Chapel Hill Baseball Regional | Boshamer Stadium, UNC campus | Fri: Tennessee vs. ECU 12 pm, UNC vs. VCU 5 pm | UNC (No. 5 national seed, No. 1 regional seed) hosts No. 2 Tennessee, No. 3 ECU, and No. 4 VCU in one of the tournament's toughest fields. Standing-room tickets at the box office 90 minutes before first pitch — $20 general, $5 students. Ridge Road closed throughout. | goheels.com

🏛️ Community & Civic

Thu, May 28 Glenwood Elementary Culture Night | Glenwood Elementary, 3640 Erwin Rd., Chapel Hill | Evening | Food, performances, and community from a school with a lot riding on the next week. Open to the community. | chccs.org

Thu, Jun 4 CHCCS Board of Education Meeting | Lincoln Center, 750 S. Merritt Mill Rd., Chapel Hill | Time TBD — check the agenda | The board votes on which elementary school, if any, to close. Public comment expected. The decision affects fall 2027. | chccs.org

Sat mornings Carrboro Farmers' Market | 301 W. Main St., Carrboro | 7 am–12 pm | Peak season — strawberries, greens, flowers, bread, the whole deal. | carrborofarmersmarket.com

Sat mornings & Tue afternoons Chapel Hill Farmers' Market | University Place, 201 S. Estes Dr. | Sat 8 am–12 pm, Tue 3–6 pm | All local, all within 60 miles. | thechapelhillfarmersmarket.com

🎵 Live Music

Fri, May 29 Elizabeth Cotten Freight Train Blues Concert Series | Carrboro Town Commons, 301 W. Main St. | 6:30–8:30 pm | FREE | Bring a blanket. Runs Fridays through June 12. | townofcarrboro.org

Fri, May 29 Fridays on the Front Porch | The Carolina Inn, 211 Pittsboro St., Chapel Hill | 5–8 pm | FREE | Bluegrass, rocking chairs, drinks. Every Friday. The most Chapel Hill thing you can do on a Friday. | carolinainn.com

Sat, May 30 Tift Merritt & Skylar Gudasz: NC Musicians Mental Health Alliance Benefit | Cat's Cradle, 300 E. Main St., Carrboro | Doors 7 pm, Show 8 pm | $15 suggested donation | Two of North Carolina's finest songwriters playing for a cause that matters. Worth your Saturday night. | catscradle.com

Sat, May 30 Saturdays in Saxapahaw | Outside Haw River Ballroom, 1711 Saxapahaw-Bethlehem Church Rd. | Market 5 pm, Music 6–8 pm | FREE | Local bands, farmers' market, food trucks, the river right there. Every Saturday through August. | hawriverballroom.com

Sun, May 31 Sunday Night Live | Southern Village Green, 600 Market St., Chapel Hill | 7–9 pm | FREE | Twenty straight Sundays of free live music. Pack a chair. Every Sunday through September 20. | southernvillage.com

Thu, Jun 4 Bayside w/ Adjust the Sails | Cat's Cradle, Carrboro | Doors 7 pm, Show 8 pm | Pop-punk staples on a Thursday night. | catscradle.com

Fri, Jun 5 Haute & Freddy | Cat's Cradle, Carrboro | Doors 7 pm, Show 8 pm | catscradle.com

Tue, Jun 9 Geordie Greep | Cat's Cradle, Carrboro | Doors 7 pm, Show 8 pm | Former Black Midi frontman touring the solo material. A weeknight pick for people who like their rock unpredictable. | catscradle.com

🌿 Nature & Family

Thursdays through June 13 Twilight Thursdays at the NC Botanical Garden | 100 Old Mason Farm Rd., Chapel Hill | Display gardens open until 7 pm | Some Thursdays bring food trucks and music. Free to walk in. Stroller-friendly, kid-friendly, dog-friendly (on leash). | ncbg.unc.edu

The school closure vote comes on June 4. The Chapel Hill-Carrboro Board of Education is one week away from one of the hardest decisions it has made in years. After months of analysis, three elementary schools remain on the table: Glenwood, Ephesus, and Seawell. The board has narrowed the question from two closures to one, but the choice is no easier. Ephesus serves a growing part of Chapel Hill, with enrollment projected to climb 23% by 2035 — but it also needs the most expensive repairs in the district. Seawell sits beside Smith Middle School and Chapel Hill High, offering rare cross-school collaboration potential, but enrollment is sliding. Glenwood houses the district's beloved Mandarin Dual Language and World Language magnet programs, the kind of programs families plan their lives around. The underlying math is harder than any one school: district elementary enrollment dropped from 5,498 students in 2015 to 4,293 in 2025, and state per-pupil funding follows the headcount. Closure, if it happens, takes effect fall of 2027. The June 4 meeting is the one to watch.

Glenwood's Culture Night happens tonight. Speaking of Glenwood: the school is hosting its annual Culture Night on Thursday, May 28, an evening of food, performances, and community pride from a school that draws families from across the district for its language programs. The timing — six days before the closure vote — isn't lost on anyone. The event is open to the community.

Tar Heels host the NCAA Regional this weekend — and it's a brutal one. UNC baseball earned the No. 5 overall national seed and will host the Chapel Hill Regional at Boshamer Stadium from Friday, May 29, through Sunday, May 31, with an if-necessary final on Monday, June 1. As host, the Diamond Heels are the No. 1 regional seed, joined by No. 2 Tennessee, No. 3 East Carolina, and No. 4 VCU. Don't let the seeds fool you — Tennessee is a national powerhouse that simply didn't draw a host spot this year, which is why national writers are calling this one of the toughest four-team fields in the entire tournament. Friday's slate: Tennessee vs. ECU at noon, then Carolina vs. VCU at 5 p.m. Carolina enters 45-11-1 overall and a fortress-like 28-6-1 at home; survive the weekend, and they'd host a Super Regional at Boshamer the following week. Standing-room tickets go on sale 90 minutes before each game at the Boshamer ticket office — $20 general admission, $5 for participating university students, and the first 100 UNC students get in free. Heads-up for anyone driving near campus: Ridge Road between Stadium Drive and Country Club Road will be closed throughout the regional. Plan accordingly.

Pittsboro pulls the plug on Flock cameras. After more than a year of resident pushback over privacy concerns, the Pittsboro Board of Commissioners voted to end the town's contract with Flock Safety, the company behind the license-plate-reading cameras posted at intersections across town. Opponents argued the cameras created a surveillance dragnet with little local oversight. Supporters pointed to law enforcement value. The board sided with the residents. Worth noting if you live somewhere debating the same question.

Carrboro budget puts a tax increase on the table. Town Manager Patrice Toney's recommended FY 2026-27 budget includes proposed cuts to nonprofit funding and is prompting some Council members to openly discuss a property tax increase. Mayor Barbara Foushee laid out the pressure on 97.9 The Hill last Friday, framing it as a real conversation about what residents are willing to fund. Budget work sessions continue through June. If you live in Carrboro, this is the moment to weigh in.

Library funding update. The Orange County library funding fight isn't resolved, but it isn't going quiet either. After last week's packed Town Council hearing, budget hearings continue through June. The proposed cut — phasing out the county's $621,000 annual contribution to the Chapel Hill Public Library over two years — would slash about 72% of the library's collections and programming budget. The fight matters. Stay loud.

Scroggs Elementary teacher named CHCCS Teacher of the Year. LaThanya Campbell, a pre-K teacher at Mary Scroggs Elementary, was named Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Teacher of the Year at the district's annual Recognition Celebration. Campbell has been with CHCCS since 2021 and serves on the Superintendent's Teacher Advisory Council. She's been in education for 27 years. Congratulations to her, and to the kids who get her next.

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