You don’t always know when you’re rising. Sometimes it looks like just getting up again.

From the streets that shaped her to the silence that nearly broke her, Nicole Legerra’s story is one of quiet resilience. In her debut novel, The Big Light, she offers more than memory—she gives voice to the moments that tested her and the light she built from them. This is a memoir for anyone who’s walked through the wreckage and wondered if there was something on the other side. It’s for the ones who survived the hard, who love fiercely, and who’ve learned to carry both grit and grace in equal measure. Raw, luminous, and unafraid—this is a story about becoming, not as a finish line, but the rise of grit that carried her through.

Drawing from her own experience Nicole Legerra is a Board Certified Mental Health Coach and in Crisis Intervention. She is dedicated to helping others find hope and healing through life’s most challenging moments. Nicole is a writer who believes in the power of true stories—the kind that hit somewhere deep and stay with you. She’s a mom to five amazing humans and married to her best friend, juggling family life with a love for books, running, and the kind of music that carries you through. When she’s not writing, you’ll find her hitting the pavement with a playlist or audiobook in her ears, escaping into the world of words and sound. She owns more vintage rock band T-shirts than she’ll ever admit and still holds out hope for that one unforgettable Broadway stage door is opened…