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 physician. She worked for 20 years in urgent care, and 10 years in community medicine serving refugee communities. Her medical work is grounded in her dedication to create justice and radical inclusivity through communication, compassion, and anti-oppressive practices. In 2025 she was shortlisted for America’s National Compassionate Caregiver of the Year Award.
Over the years, she’s facilitated many, many groups and retreats for healthcare workers on empathic listening, critical illness conversations, rupture and repair, self-compassion, writing for healing, and many more topics.
She brings the wisdom of all those experiences to Firefly, along with her 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 partly so that she would never need to write again.
Years later, she stumbled into an expressive writing program 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. In Firefly retreats and workshops over the years, she has written her way through divorce, coming out, the pandemic, dating, mental health challenges, single parenting, and much more.
These days Nina has reduced her medicine work to part-time, and her kids have grown up and moved out. Her son calls this her “Fairy Godmother Era.” She’s excited to bring that energy, generosity, and creativity to Firefly, and to share 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 and connect with fellow LGBTQIA+ writers.
A perfect Saturday for Nina would include a luxurious brunch with close friends where no topic is off the table, a long snuggle with her partner Beck, a swim in a lake, and meandering phone calls with both her kiddos.
We can tell that we’ll lean on Nina for:
Her ability to ask the exact question that need to be asked
Helping us trust our bodies and intuitions
A deep understanding of the whole spectrum of emotions
The kind of vulnerability that’s both radical and wise
Photos of the whole adventure