The People Who Form Better Lives: Meet Nicole Walters

It is a pleasure to introduce Nicole Walters and share a little about the person behind her role as Product Designer at Vantage Plastics. While this article can only capture a few highlights of her journey, it quickly becomes apparent that Nicole possesses a unique blend of creativity, life experiences, curiosity, resilience, and appreciation for people. Those qualities have helped shape both her life and the positive impact she has on those around her.

Nicole lives in the Higgins/Houghton Lake area with her boyfriend Austin her Husky named Sarge and two adopted cats named Doobert and Olive. Nicole started working at Vantage as a design intern around seven years ago and was then hired as a full-time designer. After a couple years she left briefly for a home-based job before returning three years ago. She says her favorite thing about working at the Vantage Plastics Family of Companies is the comfort she finds in the family feeling of the company. Nicole says, “I feel like there is a level of trust that comes with a family, and I can reach out and talk about anything and be accepted and appreciated.” She indicated that she had cried when she had left and missing the family atmosphere was the biggest thing that brought her back to where she feels she belongs.

At the beginning of her life, she lived with her mother in her grandparents’ house in Clio. She described her grandfather, E. James Walters, who now lives in Florida as her hero. She says they are very much alike and have similar eccentricities. Their bond has helped prepare her for success, providing the support and strategies needed to navigate and experience life with ADHD and OCD. Nicole also has a deep admiration for her mother Julie, who has always worked hard to provide, while still being “the best friend a girl could have”; helping to shape her ethics and inspiring her to live with kindness, integrity, and resilience.

Growing up in the Flint area, Nicole was surrounded by family members who worked for General Motors. Her grandfather Larry Proffer (Sr) often drafted projects in his garage and watching him at work sparked an early interest in design. During middle school she enrolled in a technical science class that introduced drafting, and she immediately knew she had found something she loved. Once in college she had to do some catching up as her drafting had all been pencil based but in college it was computer based. While she had originally planned on going into architecture none of the local colleges offered it. Since she didn’t want to move far away from her family, she took the mechanical engineering option and found she really liked it. As she says, “It scratched that itch of knowing how and why it’s done.”

Nicole has never met her biological father, but she knows he is Native American, and a member of the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians based in Manistee, Michigan. Although they never met, she values understanding that part of her heritage and the story that helped shape her own. Due to her tribal connection, she had help with her college tuition from the tribe.

When Nicole was in kindergarten her mother Julie married Larry Proffer, a man she had known since they were children, and he became Nicole’s dad. Nicole describes her dad as being a “jack of all trades” and spent a lot of time working with him painting houses and assisted living facilities around the state. Being very family-oriented Nicole describes her parents as her best friends who live nearby on Houghton Lake. Lots of time is spent at family gatherings. During the summer months she says they are on the family pontoon almost every weekend between Higgins and Houghton Lake.

In what Nicole describes as a “fun story” of how she met her boyfriend, Austin. She was out on Houghton Lake at a sandbar called Gilligan’s Island on Father’s Day weekend six years ago with her parents when a storm blew up. The storm caused their pontoon to break loose. The neighboring boat contained Austin and his dad whom she did not know but they came to the rescue to help with the loose pontoon. After that chance meeting she and Austin have been together ever since. At the time they were not working due to the COVID pandemic, so they got to know each other quickly. Only after a couple of weeks on July 4^th Austin said, “Just so you know I’m telling everybody that you’re my girlfriend.” At the time he lived in Lansing and moved to Houghton Lake soon after.

Outside of her career at Vantage Plastics Nicole has had several unique experiences and maintains several interests. Nicole's appreciation for creativity and the outdoors extends well beyond her work at Vantage. She spent three summers working as the Accounts Payable Clerk at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island where she was responsible for entering and paying all invoices and bills; and counting/balancing cash drawers from all outlets owned by the Grand. She shared that she got to see every room within the historic building during her time there.

Another interest involves frequently assisting a friend as a second photographer at weddings and special events. Together, she and Austin have been transforming neighboring property into an expanding garden filled with vegetables, blueberries, and strawberries. Austin's woodworking and building skills have complemented Nicole's vision, allowing them to create a place they both enjoy.

Given the natural beauty of the Houghton Lake area Nicole says her “happy place” is kayaking the Cut River, just a mile from her home. 'It's very isolated,' she says. 'Austin and I will take an eight-hour trip to paddle down the river, stop to grill, and only see three cabins the entire trip.”

One of the greatest privileges of working together is taking the time to learn the stories that have shaped one another's lives. Every member of the Vantage Plastics Family of Companies brings unique experiences, relationships, and perspectives that strengthen our organization. Nicole Walters exemplifies those qualities through her creativity, humility, dedication, and genuine appreciation for people. We are grateful she chose to return to the Vantage family, and through her work and the person she is, she continues to help bring our mission to life—Forming Better Lives, Forming Solutions, and Forming Sustainable Futures.