My Story
Who I am, where I came from, what my background is at the legislature, my expertise, etc.
Childhood and a Name
Nicholeen [nick-o-leen] is an unusual name. But, the uniqueness somehow fits. My parents, Nicholas and Janeen, mixed their names together, in true Utah style, to create Nicholeen, which means victory and God is gracious. It’s amazing what a name does for a person. Something in me has always felt a deep desire to do God’s will and to help liberate any captives around me.
Little did I know what that would mean in my life.
When I was young I wanted to be a teacher. I suppose that was a natural desire since me and my four siblings were raised by two natural, very patient, teachers.
My father was a high school teacher, university professor, actor, director, speaker, statesman, and author. Dad made sure that I knew how to speak in front of people and express opinions and state facts. He was a celebrated debate coach and taught communications and speech at the college level.
Mom was a teacher too. She was a home economics major and master gardener who taught in our church, in community groups, and to her children and their friends. She did sewing, gardening, and cooking classes and helped us organize events and step out of our comfort zones. She was an avid reader and always motivated herself and her family to push toward achieving their goals.
My parents set an example of lifelong learning and grit as we survived and thrived on a meager school teacher’s budget and whatever odd jobs and entrepreneurial ventures could be done to keep a family of seven fed and happy.
One of the odd jobs that Dad did was to regularly serve in the Utah National Guard after his regular military service came to an end. My dad deeply loves his country and liberty and raised his family with a love of sacrifice for truth, country and principle. His example of sacrifice and willing service in his military and guard assignments as well as church service assignments instilled the virtues, service and sacrifice, into my heart.
Education and Family
As a child I wanted to try every sport or creative project. This led me to pursue music, dance, drama, arts, and various sports in my youth. I attended Snow College on a dance scholarship, but my real heart was for my studies in special education.
After my time at Snow College I married Spencer Peck, the sixth of seven children, of Salt Lake City, Utah. He is a plumber and general contractor by trade and owns his own successful business in Tooele County. Together we built his business from the ground up twice, since the first time he had a partner and was forced to begin again when the partnership dissolved.
After marriage, Spencer and I both studied business in college while pursuing other interests as well. I learned a variety of trades before settling on motherhood and education as my main pursuits. Some of my jobs were: Bank teller, dental assistant, bakery tech, veterinary help, building custodian company owner, insurance agent, and funeral home counselor.
In 1997, with one child, Quin, and another on the way, Paije, I knew that it was a good time to switch my focus to home-life and child-raising, so I quit my lucrative counselor position at the time we built our home and moved to Tooele.
In 1999 we felt like we should open our home to troubled youth, so we went through the rigorous process to get certified to do therapeutic treatment care for troubled teens as level 3 foster parents. For many years we took youth ages 12-18 into our home for treatment. These youth were neurodiverse and often came from lives of trauma.
During this time, in all my spare minutes, I started doing in-depth studies in liberal arts education to get a leadership education certification from George Wythe University. This education proved to be invaluable. I read more books during this time of my life than I ever had previously, filling a full library in our home with classics of all kinds and getting a true classical, liberal arts, leadership education.
Two more children came, Londyn and Porter, and before I knew it I was an instructor for the same leadership education certification program that I had taken from George Wythe University.
The teaching didn’t stop there.
My natural children and foster children all had different needs in education so we experienced multiple different educational paths. Some children attended public school and others were homeschooled all the way until college. In the homeschooling world I was invited to speak at education conferences and to lead and teach groups of children and youth seeking a leadership style of education.
Currently, three of my four natural children have graduated with university degrees and started their families, and our youngest son, when he returns from his church mission, will go back into doing his university studies.
Impact and the Legislature
In 2009, someone referred the BBC in England to our family to be on a television program called The World’s Strictest Parents. On this program two troubled teens from the UK came to stay in our home for eight days and experienced mighty changes of heart. By the end of the program the youth were crying and asking not to leave our home. The Tooele episode of this program became “the most watched episode ever on the BBC” according to the producers, and launched our family down a road we hadn’t planned to take.
When people saw us stay firm, but calm and loving and establish good bonds with the youth from the UK, people wanted to know how the change of heart was possible and how to parent troubled children like we did. We were asked to teach, speak, write books, make appearances, and travel to other states and countries to meet with dignitaries and advise on family issues.
I never fancied myself a writer, but after excessive requests, I consented to write my first book, Parenting A House United. This book was very successful and so other books were soon request to help families better learn the principles and skills of self-government for their homes and relationships. To date, eleven books have been published, and training courses have been created to teach families and to certify others to also teach the skills and principles of self-government. These programs and books have been used all around the world in homes, schools, medical practices, and therapeutic and treatment settings.
Since the whole purpose of the Teaching Self-Government business has always been for positive social and familial impact, my efforts led to giving away trainings on YouTube, podcasts, BYU-TV episode, multiple news programs, radio, newspaper, magazine, and even a pilot program for school teachers for the state of Utah. Religious leaders from various faiths and dignitaries as well as town and city leaders from multiple countries have invited me and my family to come train them on how to create strong family relationships and calmly solve problems. This humanitarian service has been a great honor and blessing to be part of.
In 2011, I started coming to the Utah legislature as a citizen to protect parental rights, advocate for good policy related to education, foster care, and to protect children from sexual abuse and grooming.
In 2012, the Worldwide Organization for Women [WOW], a registered nonprofit with consultative status at the United Nations, asked me to speak at the UN Commission on the Status of Women. Very unexpectedly, prior to speaking for my first time for this global organization, the leadership asked me to become the new president of the organization because the founder, Nina Palmer, was stepping down due to health problems.
Accepting this position increased my involvement in family issues, but also added other issues to my radar and study as well. The WOW organization has always advocated for the protection of faith, family, and sovereignty and is part of international and national coalitions, forums and congresses that also focus on strengthening and protecting families and faith groups, as well as protecting the health and safety of children.
After becoming the president of the WOW organization, I started spending more time at the Utah legislature as an unpaid lobbyist for faith, family and sovereignty and joined with and helped create other coalitions in the state of Utah designed to help families and children.
Legislative work is not for the faint of heart. In fact, sometimes it’s downright heart-breaking.
But, as I’ve worked to protect Utah children and families and to protect good conservative policies there have been many successes. I’ve written and revised many many bills and am often called to consult on pieces of legislation that will affect families or children. But, even more important than the policy that I’ve written, is the policy that I’ve stopped. We don’t need more bills, our state needs less bills. Stopping a bill is just as delicate a process as creating one.
Sometimes it even requires more finesse.
There isn’t time to list all of the bills I’ve helped move or stop over the years, but one issue that everyone has surely heard about in the state and nation, that was identified by me in the state of Utah, was pornography in school resources like databases and books. In 2018, I found graphic sexual content in the Utah school databases that children are told to use for their school research reports. I recognized that the problem wasn’t the teacher’s fault, it was the curators’ faults, so I went to work trying to get curators to comply with Utah obscenity laws related to children. Children were being exploited right under our noses. This has led to many years of work and multiple bills to solve this problem, and I’m not done yet. Meetings with the AG and state auditors and others are still happening to solve this problem and keep children safe.
The thing about solving big problems at the legislature that I’ve learned is that it is never as fast as you hope that it will be. And, every bill ends up leading to follow up bills because tweaks and adjustments are part of the process. And, sometimes a good bill takes a turn for the worse during the bill process and might need more work to fix those problems later. The “work” I’m speaking of is conversations and research. Lots of conversations and research! Oh, and calmness and patience…
Speaking and training groups about family issues and how to keep children safe has been a big part of my recent years. Every year, new presentations happen at the United Nations in an effort to bring a counter voice to what is usually advocated for there. The United Nations often crosses over the line of sovereignty and needs to be kept ‘in check.’ Additionally, some of the world’s largest education and family conferences have me come speak about education, parenting, calmness, self-government, and child safety.
Other accomplishments:
- President for the Empowered Families Coalition
- Member of the Utah PTA Safety Commission
- Parent review committee for the state school tests
- Parent sex ed review committee for Tooele School District
- Nomination for Utah Young Mother of the Year
- National Title IX groups
- Who’s Who in America honors and publications
- National Protect Child Health Coalition
- Various boards and advisory boards for colleges and organizations
- Created programs for multiple facilities doing recovery and treatment for children rescued fromsexual trafficking.
Contact me:
[email protected]
801-554-4434
Get involved:
The greatest change happens at the grassroots level. That’s why strengthening families has always been my top priority in life. There is nothing more grassroots than family. So, this campaign is going to be pretty grassroots too.
Would you like to get involved?
Here are some easy ways to help.
Post a sign in your yard,
Give a suggestion about where to post a sign,
Host a cottage meeting,
Help at a campaign event,
Talk to your friends.
Contact for signs, meetings or events:
[email protected]
801-554-4434
Quick Bio
Nicholeen is a worldwide phenomenon and leader. She is best known for her work in mentoring families in their relationships, behaviors, and adult skill development through Teaching Self-Government, for internationally standing up for faith, family, and sovereignty as the President of the Worldwide Organization for Women, and for her work at the Utah State Capitol in fighting for Utah values and protecting Utah’s children.
She is a sought-after public speaker and published author, whose books have been translated into Spanish, Chinese, and Japanese, and has taught audiences throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa.
Despite her global impact Nicholeen, considers her family, her faith and her community as her top priorities and greatest treasures. She is married, has 4 children, 3 grandchildren, and many foster children that she and her husband, Spencer, have raised.
The Pecks have lived in Tooele County for 27 years.