Shimekia Nichols

Shimekia Nichols is the Executive Director at Soulardarity. She was born and raised in Southwest Detroit zip code 48217, named for being one of the country’s most polluted urban areas. She was hired at Soulardarity in 2017, bringing years of experience in mud to grassroots organizing, communications, and movement leadership rooted in racial and economic justice. She has previously performed work within the org in the role of lead organizer, communications coordinator and deputy director. Shimekia is passionate about building intergenerational Black leadership in the environmental justice movement, creating energy systems that are accessible, environmentally and economically sustainable, and community-owned.

At Soulardarity, Shimekia focuses on guiding radical strategy and supporting decentralized leadership models within the movement. Not much different from her work co-leading campaigns like Work For Me, DTE! that challenge utility monopolies and fight for energy democracy. She especially cares about amplifying the voices of negatively impacted communities and ensuring access to clean, affordable energy is a human right. Her work advocating for the replacement of over 1,000+ residential street lights with solar powered lights enhanced with free mesh wifi (an extreme need of the community identified in mutual aid surveys during the covid-19 pandemic) 

In 2020, Shimekia won the Michigan Coalition for Human Rights- Youth Activist Award and in 2022 nominated for Vote Solar’s Dr. Espanola Jackson Energy Justice Award. In 2024, she was honored to be a finalist of the Rachel’s Network Catalyst Award. She is featured in the award-winning documentary “How to Power a City” . Early on she fought hard and tirelessly to work toward energy emancipation for Highland Park, Detroit and Southeast Michigan DTE customers, to help build a movement with energy democracy advocates to form an energy literate community bringing overlooked and exploited ratepayers justice through legal intervention. In 2021 Soulardarity won its first settlement for 3 DTE community-led solar projects and again in 2023 was awarded along with We Want Green, Too! an $8 million dollar settlement against the privately-owned energy giant.

Shimekia has shared her insights as a keynote speaker at various events, including the annual Energy Fair hosted by Midwest Renewable Energy Association in June 2022. She has been featured on several platforms such as Detroit is Different and RiseUp Midwest podcasts. She has been interviewed by highly recognized, local radio, news and print media outlets such as WWJ AM 950, WDIV Channel 4, WXYZ-TV, Planet Detroit, Riverwise Magazine and more.

Her collaborative works include the following organizations: Children’s Defense Fund- Freedom Schools, Sankofa Leadership Society, United Citizens of Southwest Detroit, Feed Da Streetz; Detroit Black Community Food Security Network (DTown Farm); We the People of Detroit; Advocates for Baxter (Baxter Beats Bullies), Sierra Club, Field Street Collective and more in support of sovereignty and community resilience as it connects to racial, intersectional environmental justice issues. 

She is featured in academic textbook “Communities and the Clean Energy Revolution: Public Health, Economics, Design, and Transformation” by Melanie J. La Rosa (Author) and co-editor and researcher of “Climate Change and Public Health: Approaching Climate Action Through the Lens of Local Needs”, highlighting the energy crisis in Highland Park, MI and self-determined solutions. 

Shimekia was interviewed along with Mama Shu of Avalon VIllage, home of the orgs first installed solar light, gaining national attention on the TODAY Show for Soulardarity’s bold approach to equity, participatory processes and community-driven resilience planning and community dialogue. In the summer of 2025, under Shimekia’s leadership, the City of Highland Park plans to celebrate the addition of approx. 60 more community-owned, residential solar powered street lights setting a precedent of installing its first solar powered street lights in the public right away, a goal set by the Let There Be Light Proposal & Campaign initiated by concerned citizens and the founder of Soulardarity in 2016. 

Within the 2.9 square mile city of Highland Park, MI is where she currently resides and enjoys spending time with her two sons,while being in community with family and life long friends. Shimekia continues to advocate for seating community experts on a city council approved energy sustainability commission, continues to sit on the steering committee of Highland Park Community Crisis Coalition and looks forward to working with Highland Park administration in creative ways to build a just and brighter future for its neighborhoods and for all. Shimekia also currently sits on the Black Caucus of the Climate Justice Alliance, Board of Directors member of People’s Solar Energy Fund (PSEF) and holds a seat on the steering committee at Energy Democracy Project.

“we need to be weapons of mass construction. 

weapons of mass love. 

it’s not enough just to change the system. 

we need to change ourselves. 

we have got to make this world user friendly.”

— Assata Shakur