Hello and welcome to a little blurb about who I am and why this profession chose me. You read that correctly, it may have started by a choice to study the profession; but it became my passion and has given me a ‘job’ that is truly fulfilling. The old saying ‘when you love what you do, you will never work a day in your life’ speaks to me. I will fill you in on the origin story of how I started and why I’m passionate about Zen Hearing.
I embarked on my journey in the hearing industry at 19 years old as Nikki Kirkham. I know what you’re thinking: a little on the odd side for a teenager to stumble into hearing aids. My father was working in the industry as a practitioner at the time and he is the basis of my inspiration to get into the industry. I saw first-hand how much a person’s life could be positively affected by what my father was able to do, so naturally I jumped in head first. I’ve accomplished every position from the front end to completing my degree and becoming a Registered Hearing Aid Practitioner and have never looked back. It’s been an amazing 20 years thus far and the next 20 are going to be outstanding. Rest assured; I’m not going anywhere.
The industry is very intriguing and constantly evolving. When I started, you could only ‘program’ a hearing aid by turning knobs to affect the high or low tones. Now, the hearing aid is not just a medical device; it’s a personalized streaming system with the capabilities of intricate programming and fine tuning on their own, some with AI features as well! It’s amazing to say the least. Having the ability to prescribe such a beautiful device to help my patient's quality of life has been a true gift. I have had the joy and pleasure of meeting so many beautiful patients in my life with many of whom I share wonderful friendships with.
The last few years have catapulted me in the direction of becoming an entrepreneur. I was lucky enough to work with my father, my brother (who is a RHAP as well), my mother, my sister-in-law and our front-end coordinator that became a part of our family for a number of years when my father owned and operated his own hearing aid business; Kirkham Hearing Solutions will always be near and dear to our hearts, what a wonderful experience to have a family business. Alas, he retired and is living his best life, the perfect ending and beginning of a legacy passed down for generations. Shortly after that I got to have a taste of the corporate hearing world. It left me with a burning desire to provide more health forward; client forward service.
As balance is very important in life, I do have a wonderfully supportive family to spend my time after hours with. My husband Allan has doubled as my business partner, the yin to my yang. We have three children, two dogs and two cats, which keep the down time not so down. We love the outdoors, travelling to warm destinations, relaxing, eating and checking out everything local in our community and surrounding areas. Some of the best places we have been to have been the mom-and-pop shops that are holes in the walls. It makes a difference when you can taste the food made with love. I believe that concept applies to everything local, don’t you?
In the interest of keeping this short; I will leave you with the reason why I desired to open Zen Hearing. All too often I hear from clients that they have felt like they don’t have a seat at the table with their hearing health plan, they have devices that they are not happy with and it feels more like a retail organization. This motivates and inspires me each and every day to develop and strategize a personal experience for each client that I help. By tailoring the involvement with the client, this ultimately provides them with the comfort, functionality and overall satisfaction with the hearing aids that they will be happy to wear and continue to help them enjoy all that life has to provide.
Hearing is our fifth sense, and the one that gives us the ability to participate in society; with our loved ones.
I hope to see you at Zen Hearing soon, every client is part of the Zen family. Thank you for taking the time to dive into this origin story and getting to know me better. I very much look forward to getting to know you.
