Nina Willow
Writing Coach and Facilitator
Nina loves asking big questions, shining on others, and finding the tender moment.
Nina is a queer doctor, artist, mamabear, writer and Firefly coach. She lives in Seattle Washington with her cat Minsky.
Nina splits her time between Firefly with her work as a doctor. She worked for 20 years in urgent care, and 10 years in community medicine serving refugee communities.
In the last thirty years she’s worked to create justice and radical inclusivity in medicine through communication, compassion, and anti-oppressive practices. In 2025 she was shortlisted for America’s National Compassionate Caregiver of the Year Award.
She has facilitated groups and retreats for healthcare workers on a range of topics including empathic listening, critical illness conversations, rupture and repair, self-compassion, joy, and writing for healing.
She brings the wisdom of all these experiences to Firefly, along with shining heart, and her electric love of everything the written word can do. She loves seeing people step into their creative freedom, and is passionate about fostering environments where learning feels both safe and alive.
Nina is also someone who deeply understands the fear and resistance so many of us feel to writing. In her first year of college she was placed in a remedial writing program, and went to med school in part so that she would never need to write again. She re-discovered writing fifteen years ago in an expressive writing session for healthcare workers while she was on her own journey of learning how to live with clinical depression. She was hooked, and soon after, she found Firefly, which became her creative home.
She’s written her way through major life events, divorce, coming out, the pandemic, dating, single parenting teenagers and much more. She looks forward to sharing the deep sense of home that writing gave her with others.
In the coming months, Nina is looking forward to creating programs at Firefly around self-compassion, living with mental health challenges, and special spaces to celebrate fellow LGBTQIA+ writers.
A perfect Saturday for Nina would include a luxurious brunch with close friends where no topic is off the table, a snuggle with her partner Beck, a swim in a lake, and long calls with both of her fantastic grown kiddos.